Psoriasis: female skin changes in various hormonal stages throughout life--puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.
Psoriasis is one of the most prevalent immune mediated skin diseases worldwide. Despite the large prevalence in both men and women, the pathogenesis of this disease has not yet been fully clarified. Nowadays, it is believed that psoriasis is most likely a T helper Th1/Th17 induced inflammatory disease. Stressful life situations are known to cause flare-ups and psoriasis activity may be linked to stress from major life events. We know that stress greatly affects both the hormone and immune systems and that there are many different hormonal phases throughout a woman's lifetime. The severity of psoriasis may fluctuate or be influenced by each phase and this relationship can be seen as disease frequency seems to peak during puberty, postpartum, and menopause when hormone levels fall, while symptoms improve during pregnancy, a state when hormone levels are increased.
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Zagreb University Hospital Center and School of Medicine, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Romana
R
Ceovic
Ministry of Justice, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Marko
M
Mance
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Zagreb University Hospital Center and School of Medicine, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Zrinka
Z
Bukvic Mokos
Institute of Emergency Medicine, 42 000 Varazdin County, Croatia.
Maja
M
Svetec
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Zagreb University Hospital Center and School of Medicine, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Kresimir
K
Kostovic
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Zagreb University Hospital Center and School of Medicine, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Daska
D
Stulhofer Buzina
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011627:Puberty / Q000502:physiology; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena