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Psoriasis and skin turnover
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Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. What drives it is the immune system, the body's defense, working overtime: instead of just standing guard, it pushes the epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, to make cells far faster than it should. Those cells reach the surface before their time, and with nowhere to go, they pile up on top of one another.
That pileup is exactly what you see and feel: plaques, raised red patches with a crust of scale on top, like wax building up when it drips again and again on the same spot. Psoriasis can stay in the skin and nails, or it can come with inflammation in the joints. And it doesn't look the same in everyone: where it shows up and how hard it hits both vary.
In brief
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease. Excessive immune activity speeds up cell production in the epidermis, the skin's outer layer.
Cells reach the surface too soon and build up, forming plaques: raised, inflamed areas covered with scales.
Skin cells begin in deeper layers and rise toward the surface. In psoriasis, they pile up before shedding.
It may affect only the skin and nails, or it may also involve joint inflammation; its extent and severity vary.
Sources (2)
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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