Educational Talk: PsA & Skin care
9 January 2016
Educational Talk: PsA & Skin care was taken part in the Auditorium of Christian Family Service Centre in Kwun Tong on 9 January 2016. The talk aimed to enhance people’s understanding on the treatment and care of psoriatic arthritis (PsA). There were 41 participants in total.
The talk was started by Dr. Gavin LEE, a specialist in Rheumatology, introduced the basic information of PsA and emphasized this was a non-communicable disease. He hoped participants could understand the disease correctly through this talk. The disease would affect one’s joints and skin due to the abnormal immune system. The larger the affected skin area was, the higher chance the psoriasis would develop into PsA. If the affected area was found near the anus and scalp or being overweight, the chance was also increased. He urged the participants to be aware of their family history and body weight. Moreover, psoriatic skin influenced the outlook of patients which might induce emotional problems. Dr. LEE introduced the activities of CRN and the Arthritis Helpline of HKARF in the hope of helping the patients with PsA to face the disease positively.
Apart from this, the talk was continued by Dr. Johnny CHAN, a specialist in Dermatology & Venereology, to explain the treatment and skin care of psoriasis. Many misunderstood psoriasis as a communicable skin disease. Dr. CHAN reaffirmed that this was a chronic and non-communicable autoimmune disease. The common symptoms were red, itchy and scaly skin patches. The unpleasant outlook might increase patients’ stress. On top of Dr. LEE’s speech, Dr. CHAN further explained the factors that might increase the chance of disease onset. Infection, stress, hormonal change, smoking, alcohol intake and overweight were all possible factors. He reminded the participants again not to smoke and control the amount of alcohol intake. It was very important to maintain a healthy lifestyle for disease prevention.
The talk then followed by a Q&A session where participants actively asked questions. Dr. LEE and Dr. CHAN answered with patience to solve their doubts. The audiences found the information from the talk useful and showed great interested in similar topic.
