hello doctor,iam suffering from psoriasis for the past 10 yrs.my doctor prescribed tab.methotrexate.but iam afraid to take this medicine due to its sideeffects.is there any alternative treatment available? what r the precautions should i follow to control my disease.any newer drug available for this disease.my age is 37.iam a working lady.my ht is 160cm & my wt is 70kg
Hello and welcome to Chat Doctor Treatment of Psoriasis is individualized. While topical treatment alone suffices for limited disease, oral + topical treatment are together useful for disease involving more than 20% of the body surface area. Methotrexate is just one of the several options for treatment of psoriasis. It is an immunosuppressive. It has a long history of use in psoriasis and with proper monitoring and follow up, it is considered to be one of the safest Chat Doctor.  Serious side effects that are reported with its use in psoriasis are bone marrow suppression, liver abnormalities (fatty liver, cirrhosis) etc. Cyclosporin is another immunosuppressive that can be used for rapid control of severe widespread erthrodermic or pustular psoriasis. However, it can cause raised blood pressure and raise serum creatinine, therefore requires monitoring for BP as well as serum creatinine levels. It is a sort of rescue