Home Remedies for Psoriasis
Updated: Aug 28
Here are some proven and tested home remedies for psoriasis based on the book: Home remedies: what works: thousands of Americans reveal their favorite, home-tested cures for everyday health problems by Gale Maleskey.
Normally, a skin cell takes about 28 days to grow from the bottom to the top of your skin. If you have psoriasis, the itchy, red, non-contagious patches on your body make that journey in just 4 or 5 days.
"It really is amazing. People can take their clothes off, and they will literally have a small pile of dead skin at their feet," says Michael Zanolli, M.D., director of clinical dermatology services in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and a spokesman for the National Psoriasis Foundation.
Cod Liver Oil
During and just after college, Paulette's scalp had large, itchy, flaky patches that refused to respond to any number of shampoos and treatments. "I tried everything," says the 36-year-old Rockford, Illinois, mom.
Then she read a letter to a magazine written by a doctor who claimed to have successfully treated his psoriasis patients with cod liver oil capsules. Paulette began taking a cod liver oil capsule a day, sometimes two when her symptoms were bad. A month passed. And then Paulette noticed the change. "It's like it just went into remission," she says. "It was really weird."
Paulette continued to take cod liver oil for the next several years, and as far as she can remember, her symptoms all but ended. She stopped taking the capsules when she became pregnant and has not used them since.
Today, she suffers from minor scalp irritation that her doctor describes as seborrhea. Did she cure herself of psoriasis with cod liver oil? "To be truthful, I don't know. But something helped me," she says.
Helen, a resident of La Salle, Illinois, is confident that cod liver and linseed oils keep her psoriasis at bay. After spending her childhood and more than half of her adult life with psoriasis on her arms, lower back, knees and scalp, Helen read that cod liver and linseed oil capsules help in some cases. So she decided to give them a try.
About 14 weeks later, she began to notice improvement. And within five months, she was nearly free of psoriasis for the first time in her life.
Helen says she keeps her psoriasis at bay by taking two capsules of each just before bed every night. A recent trip out West reminded her of what happens when she doesn't take them: Within a few weeks, her arms and lower back again were red and scaly. "It was severe," she says, "but when I got back on schedule, within two months it was under control."
Are these fish stories—or could cod liver or linseed oil help some cases of psoriasis? In fact, Dr. Zanolli actually recommends fish oil supplements for some of his patients. "There's some evidence that the fatty acids in fish oil may help decrease the inflammation and redness of psoriasis, The says."As long as you don't overdo it, supplementing your diet with fish oils is a recognized adjunct for overall care of your psoriasis.
In one study, 28 people with chronic psoriasis were given either ten capsules daily containing a total of 1.8 grams of refined omega-3 fatty acids or vegetable oil look-alike capsules for eight weeks. Researchers soon found those who took the fish oil capsules experienced a "significant lessening" of their itching and scaling. Even the size of their psoriasis patches seemed to shrink!
Cod liver oil, fish oil and linseed oil are available at most health-food stores. (If you want linseed oil, these days you'll have to ash for "flaxseed oil.") Although you should probably consult your docior before laking fish oil supplements, there's no harm in getting them from the source: fish. A seven-ounce serving of salmon contains 2.4 grams of beneficial fatty acids.
Vitamin-E Cream
One morning in the early 1980s, Delbert woke up with psoriasis on one of his knees. "It seems kind of funny it just kind of showed up there," says the retired Zanesville, Ohio, resident.
Fortunately, the psoriasis hasn't spread to any other parts of his body. To keep his knee from becoming itchy and red and the scales from piling up, Delbert applies vitamin E cream. "I'll put one of these on every two or three days while sitting in the evening watching TV," he says. "It doesn't completely cure it, but it keeps it from getting any worse."
Dr. Zanolli says you may be better off using Vaseline or mineral oil. "You need things on the skin that can help restore some sort of protective barrier and preserve moisture within the skin," he says. "These will help keep the patches of psoriasis softer. They'll be less likely to crack and bleed. I've found that plain mineral oil or Vaseline is the least expensive and can be very helpful massaged on at night, especially on places like the elbows, knees and hands."
Moisturizing soaps, like those containing lanolin, vitamin E and aloe vera, work best for showers and daily skin care, says Dr. Zanolli. "I generally recommend a very gentle, mild soap with additional moisturizers within the soap. I don't recommend harsh deodorant soaps or those with fragrances for my patients," he says. Any of the over-the-counter dandruff shampoos containing cold tar-though messy, or selenium should also help, he says.
He Quits Caffeine
David, of Jamison, Pennsylvania, says quitting caffeine helps his psoriasis. "The psoriasis completely disappears upon elimination of all sources of caffeine," he maintains. "If I ingest caffeine only once after weeks of abstinence, there is little or no problem, but ingesting caffeine more than once results in a full-blown flare-up."
Although he's unaware of a caffeine-psoriasis connection, "I would encourage that guy to continue," says Dr. Zanolli. "When people come and tell me that they are doing something to help their psoriasis, l encourage it, and especially something that would be of overall good without doing themselves any harm."
Moderating your alcohol intake can also have big benefits, he says."Here's my guideline for alcohol intake: one beer or one six-or eight-ounce glass of wine or a mixed drink. You have to wait at least a couple of hours between drinks," he says. "If you drink excessive amounts of alcohol, you can absolutely make it easier to treat your psoriasis by modifying or moderating your alcohol intake."
In fact, studies have shown a possible link between psoriasis and both alcohol and caffeine. Five out of six people improved in one study when they avoided acidic foods like coffee, tomato, soda and pineapple. And in a study of 160 people, severe psoriasis was more common in those who were heavy drinkers.
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