Occurrence and challenges in the management of severe chronic plaque type psoriasis in a limited resourced setting: a case report

Abstract

Plaque-type psoriasis is a major dermatosis with significant effects on quality of life. Case complexity is often high in low-resourced settings such as in Africa where the incidence has been on the rise. Despite major advancements and newer therapeutic modalities over the last decade, an insight into the real-life, day to day challenges in low resourced settings reveal an interplay between the difficulty in obtaining these drugs and use of alternative traditional indigenous agents. We report the case of a 50 year old immunocompetent male who presented with chronic and extensive well demarcated plaques covered with silver-white scales occupying about 61% of his body surface area. Patient was however lost to follow up for about 8 months during which time, the lesions responded to some unknown homemade indigenous medications which was preferred to a systemic medication. Paramount importance on proper counselling and the need to retain patients in care is warranted by physicians and allied health personnel. Also, incentives aimed at subsidizing the newer systemic agents for patients in low resourced cohorts will go a long way to combat this multi-faceted disorder which is often unrecognized and under diagnosed.