What should you know about palmoplantar psoriasis?

Patches may be sharply defined and covered with scale, or they may appear mainly as deep cracks and thickened skin. Symptoms can affect one hand, one foot, or matching areas. Itching is possible, but pain from fissures and pressure can be the larger problem.

The condition is not caused by poor hygiene and is not spread by touch. A clinician may check your nails, scalp, elbows, knees, and joints because psoriasis can appear in several locations and may be associated with joint symptoms.

Book an assessment if scaling, redness, peeling, or cracking does not settle with regular moisturising. Apply an unperfumed emollient often, particularly after washing, and use gentle products rather than harsh soaps. Cover painful fissures with a suitable dressing and reduce repeated friction or wet work where possible.

Treatment may include prescription creams, light-based treatment, or medicine that works throughout the body. The choice depends on severity, other psoriasis sites, joint symptoms, and your medical history. Do not file thick plaques aggressively or use someone else’s steroid cream.

Contact a clinician promptly if cracks bleed repeatedly, become hot or swollen, produce pus, or make walking or using your hands difficult. Seek urgent help for fever with rapidly worsening redness or swelling. Mention persistent heel, finger, or joint stiffness because it may need assessment for psoriatic arthritis.

Ask how the diagnosis was made, whether another condition could mimic it, what moisturiser and treatment schedule to use, and how to protect fissures. Also ask what joint symptoms to watch for and when your treatment should be reviewed if the skin remains painful.