Your skin is a remarkably complex organ. It constantly replaces old cells with newer ones at a fairly even pace; normally you shed about as many cells as you make. The new skin cells look just like the old one, but it's not the same. As with all organs, things can often go wrong. Sometimes the skin starts making new cells a lot faster than they can be shed; nobody knows why it happens, but when it happens we call it psoriasis. Sometimes the skin forgets that the new skin should be the same color as the old skin and forgets to make any color at all (like finishing off a room, but forgetting to paint the walls) leaving pale patches of skin; again, nobody knows why it happens, but when it happens we call it vitiligo. These conditions, and several other related skin ailments, are thought to be influenced or caused by a faulty or weak immune system. Let's look at psoriasis specifically, as there is a much longer history of treating psoriasis.
Regions where people spend little time outside in the Sun have a higher incidence of psoriasis than those who spend a lot of time outdoors; this usually coincides with a warmer climate, so the closer you get to the poles, the bigger the problem becomes. This is not to say that people living in colder locales have more psoriasis than those in warmer latitudes, only that the condition can be kept in check with enough sunlight. Many people don't even realize they have psoriasis until they start spending more time inside or where there's less light. Others who've had psoriasis for years improved in the summer and became much worse in the winter, but there wasn't much that anyone knew that would help.
Back in the 1920's, the medical world first began to seriously look at phototherapy for a variety of ailments. Psoriasis was found to respond well to brief but regular exposures to UVB light (what we now call 'broadband UVB'); not enough to produce a sunburn, but enough to hold the psoriasis at bay. This became a very reliable and relatively safe treatment for the vast majority of people suffering with psoriasis, but people still swore by their treatments at the Dead Sea. There seemed to be something unique about that specific location that produced better results for more people, but they didn't know if it was the air or the water or the salts or something else that was making a difference for so many people.
The real question is, once you and your doctor have determined that UVB is effective for treating your skin condition, can you afford NOT to place a nbUVB light phototherapy system in your own home? Talk to your doctor about light therapy for
Psoriasis and the benefits of owning a
UVBioTek™ home system.
Your SKIN will thank you!
