Secondary Prurigo Nodularis and Psoriasis

Raja Sivamani (00:07):

I am Raja Sivamani. I'm a board certified dermatologist. I'm actually an integrative dermatologist because I have training in Ayurvedic medicine as well. And I practice in Sacramento, California. We have a private practice there. We see a lot of Medi-Cal patients as well, so I really am interested in treating the underserved. And as such, I also do a lot of clinical research. So I get to play in both worlds of clinical care and clinical research.

(00:32):

One of the questions I get with prurigo nodularis is, how often do I see that with patients that have atopic dermatitis or psoriasis? And the answer is, it can definitely be present. And the reason is because we already know that in atopic dermatitis, there is a tremendous amount of itch. And when you have constant itch, constant rubbing, you're going to develop secondary prurigo nodularis.

(00:54):

But one of the areas where people sometimes forget is psoriasis. Psoriasis also has a lot of itch. In fact, when you ask patients to grade what are the things that bother them most, itch is really high. And with itch comes this constant itch/scratch cycle, and you can develop prurigo nodularis in those scenarios too. So you definitely want to watch out for PN in both psoriasis and in AD.