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People with psoriasis are being treated as social outcasts,
survey findings show.
Telephone
interviews with more than 5,000 European people revealed half
would not kiss, swim with or eat food prepared by someone with
psoriasis.
This was despite
most realising this skin condition is not contagious.
Friday 29 October
is the first world psoriasis day, aimed at increasing awareness
and breaking down prejudices about this common skin disease.
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I
was shocked to see that half of the people surveyed would
refuse to kiss or hug me or eat a sandwich from my hand
Michele Corvest, founder of APLCP - Association for the
Fight Against Psoriasis |
Taylor Nelson
Sofres surveyed 5,029 people from France, German, Italy, Spain
and the UK.
Most knew that it
was a type of skin disease but, less than a third of those
questioned knew that psoriasis was a common disorder, affecting
one in every 50 people.
Nearly two in 10
people thought poor hygiene was the root cause of psoriasis,
even though three-quarters correctly knew that the condition is
partly inherited and partly down to environmental factors.
Many would not
want to have close physical contact, such as hugging, with
someone who had psoriasis, men more so than women.
Shunned
Michele Corvest,
founder of APLCP - Association for the Fight Against Psoriasis -
said: "I was shocked to see that half of the people surveyed
would refuse to kiss or hug me or eat a sandwich from my hand."
Lars Ettarp,
president of the International Federation of Psoriasis
Foundations behind World Psoriasis Day, said: "For the
125million people worldwide who suffer from psoriasis, life can
be extremely difficult and we are still discriminated against
due to the unsightly appearance of our skin.
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SURVEY FINDINGS
49% would not want to kiss or hug a person with psoriasis
45% would not want to share a swimming pool with someone
with psoriasis
42% would not eat food prepared by someone who had psoriasis
18% would not want to do any of these |
"We want a better
standard of care for people with psoriasis."
Psoriasis expert
from
Charles University
in Prague, Professor Petr Arenberger, said psoriasis had been
recognised as a skin condition since biblical times, when people
with the condition were confined to leper colonies.
Although things
have improved since then, he said people with psoriasis were
still treated as social outcasts.
Psoriasis occurs
when the skin replaces itself too quickly.
There are many
different types of psoriasis.
Psoriasis usually
appears as red, scaly patches that when scraped or scratched
reveal fine silvery scales.
The patches may
itch and feel uncomfortable. Some people develop a specific form
of arthritis related to psoriasis. |
