Bathing Practices and Emollient Use among Psoriasis Patients

Abstract

The following submission is a brief report of a recently conducted survey on the bathing practices of people with psoriasis. The scope of the survey was to discover what practices psoriasis patients have adopted in caring for their skin as compared to controls. An Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved survey was conducted in conjunction with the National Psoriasis Foundation National Conference, which took place Aug. 5–7, 2005, in Boston, Mass. Subjects reported their frequency of bathing, the amount of pain they experienced when bathing and showering, and whether or not they applied moisturizer on a daily basis. Psoriasis subjects were also asked to rate the severity of their psoriasis. Significant differences were found in people reporting pain with showering in the psoriasis group as compared with controls, and psoriasis respondents preferred cooler water temperatures when bathing. Both of these findings correlated with disease severity. Further, psoriasis subjects were found to use moisturizers more frequently and avoid the use of harsher products such as exfoliators when compared to controls. The findings of this survey suggest that the bathing practices of psoriasis patients are affected by their skin condition. In addition, daily pain associated with showering may negatively impact a patient's quality of life. The results of this research suggest that increased efforts should be made to evaluate pain severity and other affected aspects of caring for skin in this patient population.