Cause and Treatment for Psoriasis

If you have psoriasis, it is imperative that you have your vitamin D levels tested and

maintain levels in the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml year-round. Vitamin D is a potent immune modulator, making it very important for the prevention of autoimmune diseases.

According to one study, “vitamin D could have important immunomodulatory effects in psoriasis,” but unfortunately 80 percent of patients in winter, and 50 percent in the summer, were vitamin-D deficient.4

Vitamin D is thought to effect psoriasis on multiple levels, including helping to regulate keratinocyte (skin cell) growth and differentiation as well as influence the immune functions of T lymphocytes and other cells. Vitamin D also inhibits cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cell activity, potentially helping to regulate skin cell growth.5

In fact, not only are vitamin D derivatives commonly used as a topical treatment for psoriasis, but phototherapy is also a preferred type of treatment.

There is also at least one published report of a specific type of drug-induced psoriasis resolving after high doses of vitamin D3 were given to treat vitamin-D deficiency.6

Existing psoriasis drug treatments are risky and expensive. NPR followed one man with psoriasis who has taken multiple prescription drugs for psoriasis, including experimental drugs, and is still suffering.

One of the drugs, Raptiva, was pulled from the market for increasing the risk of deadly brain infections. Another, Stelara, worked, but only for five years when his symptoms returned. In those five years alone, he reported the drug costs added up to $250,000.7

One of the most common psoriasis treatments is the drug psoralen combined with UV light exposure (known as PUVA). Psoralen makes your skin more sensitive to UV light, but it is often combined with UVA exposure. UVA rays are the type associated with skin damage, while UVB light causes your skin to produce vitamin D.

Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels If You Have Psoriasis

Typically, the best treatment for psoriasis is exposure to sunlight to optimize your vitamin D levels. You don’t need to visit a dermatologist; you can do it yourself. 

Speaking out in a professional capacity against this idea can cost you. In 2004, Dr. Michael Holick published the book, The UV Advantage, in which he encouraged readers to get some sensible sun exposure.

At the time, he was a professor of dermatology because of the work he'd been doing with active vitamin D for the treatment of psoriasis. In fact, he'd received the American Skin Association's Psoriasis Research Achievement Award—a rather prestigious award.

“As a result, I was in the department of dermatology, continuing to do psoriasis research. But once I began recommending sensible sun exposure for vitamin D, which is counter to what the American Academy of Dermatology's message was, I was asked to step down as professor of dermatology back in 2004...

The American Academy of Dermatology still recommends: you should never be exposed to one direct ray of sunlight for your entire life.”

This is highly counterintuitive, given the research showing how beneficial vitamin D is for psoriasis. Sunlight exposure works, in part, because UV rays in sunlight and certain types of artificial light kill off the activated T cells in your skin.

This slows down cell turnover and reduces the scaling and inflammation of your skin.

Proper sunlight exposure will help you get your vitamin D levels into the therapeutic range, which has additional health benefits as well. It’s probably no coincidence that people with psoriasis, who are often vitamin D deficient, have an increased risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and metabolic syndrome – which arealso associated with low vitamin D.8

Low Vitamin D Linked to Parkinson’s Disease and Cancer

People with psoriasis are at an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease as well, and this, too, is associated with vitamin D deficiency. According to one study:9

“Plasma levels of both dietary and sunlight-derived vitamin D are inversely correlated with the risk of Parkinson disease (PD) … The finding suggests that low vitamin D levels in PD are not simply a result of reduced mobility.”

Research scheduled to be presented at the 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco also revealed that higher vitamin D levels are associated with markedly improved survival in people with advanced colorectal cancer.10 

For this study, those with the highest vitamin D levels only had an average of 27.5 ng/mL, which is still far below the optimal range of 50-70 ng/mL. Theories linking vitamin D deficiency to cancer have been tested and confirmed in more than 200 epidemiological studies, and understanding of its physiological basis stems from more than 2,500 laboratory studies.

One particularly noteworthy study was completed by Joan Lappe and Robert Heaney in 2007. A group of menopausal women were given enough vitamin D to raise their serum levels to 40 ng/ml. These women experienced a 77 percent reduction in the incidence of all cancers, across the board, after just four years11(and again, 40 ng/ml is a relatively modest level). 

So far, scientists have identified nearly 3,000 genes that are influenced by vitamin D status, and a robust and growing body of research clearly shows that vitamin D is critical for optimal health and disease prevention.

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