Lawrence G. Kass, M.D., The Center for Cosmetic Facial & Eye Plastic Surgery
6025 4th Street North St. Petersburg, Florida 33703
http://www.kassmd.com/psoriasis-treatment.html

Psoriasis affects 100 million people worldwide. With 150,000 – 200,000 new cases being diagnosed in the United States each year. Its annual cost to society is over 3 billion dollars in the U.S. alone. It is a disease of the immune system whose causes are still largely unknown.  Psoriasis is cyclical in nature. Patients experience episodes of flare-ups alternated with periods of remission that come and go over a lifetime. Although the onset of psoriasis can occur at any age, most cases appear between ages 15-35. Far more than just a “simple skin disease”, psoriasis is a chronic, debilitating and often painful condition. Skin regenerates approximately 10 times faster than normal, creating a white flakey buildup over a patch of red inflamed skin. Psoriasis is characterized by dry, rough and scaly skin that constantly flakes and peels as well as almost unremmittent itching and burning. Even in its mildest forms psoriasis can make life miserable. And the costs of psoriasis cannot always be measured in money spent. Visible psoriatic lesions can have a negative impact on careers and social life and a psoriasis patient often feels cut off, abandoned and hopeless. Although rarely life threatening, recent studies have shown that psoriasis sufferers rate their quality of life at a level lower than those of diseases usually considered much more serious such as arthritis, diabetes, and cancer.

LHE Phototherapy for Psoriasis Halts the Cycle
LHE provides relief without the need for topical therapies, oral medications, painful injections or exposure to potentially cancer-causing ultraviolet light. LHE psoriasis phototherapy for mild to moderate chronic plaque and guttate psoriasis is a revolutionary and powerful tool in the never-ending battle against psoriasis. A completely safe and painless light-based therapy, LHE can bring complete relief from itching in as little as 2 – 3 sessions. Most patients experience a 75% clearance in psoriatic lesions after a full treatment course of 8-10 sessions carried out over 4-5 weeks.

How LHE for Psoriasis Works
In normal skin, the cells grow, move to the surface and are sloughed off at a steady unnoticeable rate. This cycle takes about one month. With psoriasis, the immune system sends faulty signals that speed up this cycle to only three or four days. The skin thickens with extra cells and blood vessels grow larger in a attempt to feed those extra cells. Skin cells pile up on the surface with dead cells creating a white, flaky layer over the patch of inflamed skin. LHE uses specialized flashes of green and yellow Light to shrink and eliminate the blood vessels that feed the abnormal growth of psoriatic skin cells. The Heat combined with infrared wavelengths reduce swelling and inflammation and very effectively stop the constant itching associated with psoriasis. Although psoriasis can occur on many areas of the body, LHE’s selective photothermolysis treatments insure that only psoriatic lesions are treated while healthy tissue remains untouched.