Symptoms of psoriasis, especially severe symptoms of psoriasis can affect the quality of life. The health related quality of life can be negatively affected by psoriasis like other chronic incurable diseases such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and other heart diseases, diabetes, depression etc. The severity and location of the skin lesion determines the affects on lifestyle, by causing discomfort and some degree of disability. For example pain and itching of psoriatic plaques can interfere with sleeping, walking, self care and lead to irritation. Presence of scaly plaques on feet and hands can pose some peculiar problems, such as problems in certain occupations (employment restrictions), playing certain sports etc. Presence of psoriatic plaques on scalp can be embarrassing as flaky plaques can be mistaken as dandruff. In general health care for psoriasis can be time consuming, costly and may interfere with daily routine such as school schedule or employment/job schedule.

Depression and self isolation due to psoriasis (especially in severe cases) is a common problem among these patients. Poor self image, self-conscious about their appearance and fear of rejection are common psychosocial problems for psoriasis patients.

Several studies have shown that psoriasis does interfere with quality of life. More than 70% of sufferers of this disease report significant problems (such as self-consciousness and embarrassment) in day to day activity due to psoriasis. Many patients with psoriasis avoided social activities such as parties, dating and other social gatherings.

How grading severity is done in psoriasis:

There are several factors taken into account while grading severity of psoriasis, such as the proportion of the affected body surface area, disease activity (redness, thickness and scaling of plaques) and the impact of the disease on the person. Response to previous treatment is also a factor in determining severity of psoriasis, and if response is not good, it can be graded as severe.

Psoriasis can be graded as mild (affect less than 3% of body surface area), moderate (affect 3-10% of body surface area) and severe (affect more than 10% of body surface area). Currently PASI (Psoriasis Area Severity Index) is the most commonly used tool to measure severity of psoriasis in research. PASI scale gives a score of 0 (zero, which indicate no disease) to 72 (which indicate maximal disease).

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