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Psoriasis on the Knees and Elbows: What It Looks Like, How to Treat It
She’s been mortified by these flares since childhood. “As a kid, I’d go to day camp wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts — and I never, ever wore a bathing suit,” she recalls.
The knees and elbows are the most common location for psoriasis flare-ups. “Those are the textbook cases,” says Elisabeth Richard, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Psoriasis on these body parts tends to have a distinctive appearance: “You’ll usually see a well-circumscribed plaque, bigger than a centimeter, with thickened skin and overlying white scales,” Dr. Richard explains. Plaques may appear red or salmon pink on white skin and purple or brown on Black or brown skin.
Psoriasis most often appears on the front of the knees and the elbows, known as extensor surfaces, says Jeffrey Cohen, MD, an assistant professor of dermatology and director of the psoriasis treatment program at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.
Source: Everyday Health