Psoriatic arthritis is a form of inflammatory arthritis which affects the joints of toes, knees, wrists, fingers, shoulders and ankles. This disease is associated with psoriasis and causes the inflammation of joints as well as scaly rash on the skin. Some environmental and genetic factors as well as some immunological abnormalities are supposed to be responsible for developing this disease. The main symptoms of psoriatic arthritis are inflammation of joints resulting in swollen, red, warm and painful joints.

In many cases, psoriasis is followed by the psoriatic arthritis and involves the joints of the joints in ankles, knees and feet. Sometimes, inflammation in the joints of toes or fingers may lead to swelling of entire digit. Psoriatic arthritis may result in the spondylitis (inflammation of spine) and inflammation of sacrum which causes stiffness and pain in low back, upper back, neck and buttocks.

In some patients, inflammation of tendons (tendinitis) can be one of the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Achilles tendonitis is caused by tendinitis behind the heel which can cause pains while walking and climbing stairs. There may be inflammation of chest wall and the cartilage that joins the ribs to sternum which may lead to chest pain similar to that of costochondritis.

The symptoms of psoriatic arthritis may be associated with other organs as this disease can cause the inflammation of lungs, eyes and aorta. An inflammation in eye’s colored portion (iris) causes iritis which may worsen due to bright light. Pleuritis, the inflammation in and around the lungs, can cause chest pain which may worsen with deep breathing. Aortitis (inflammation of aorta) may result in the leakage of aortic valves that can cause shortness of breath and heart failure.

As this disease is related to psoriasis, scaly, patchy skin is one of the main symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Various medications are available to treat the skin damage. Topical medications such as coal tar, vitamin D analogues, anthralin, steroids and retinoids are useful to prevent the drying of skin. Some moisturizers including light mineral oil, lanolin cream, baby oil and cocoa butter lotion also help to keep the skin moist and prevent its drying. In addition to this, corticosteroid creams or lotions containing coal tar are found to be effective for scaly patches on skin. Besides this, moderate exposure to sunlight is supposed to be beneficial for the patients with psoriatic arthritis.

PUVA (psoralen plus long-wave ultraviolet A light) therapy is very effective for the treatment of psoriasis. This light therapy is given in combination with medicine namely psoralen. Some medications that are useful for both arthritis and psoriasis are cyclosporine, methotrexate and biologic agents.