Interested In Pregnancy and P Connection
from PP

Just discovered FlakeHQ.  Particularly interested in relationship between psoriasis and pregnancy.  I was pregnant in mid-2000 and my P didn’t just improve, it completely went away.  Unfortunately, I miscarried and the P returned much like many of your contributors.

Since then my husband and I have often wondered about the correlation between the two.  Please keep me posted on any developments as they come.  Thanks.  –PP

*****

Ed’s Response:  I’ve emailed Jenny Murase at the University of California – Irvine to learn the status of the study being conducted there on the relationship between pregnancy and P [See Pregnancy and P Study].  Here's what she had to say:

The study will conclude spring of 2003.  So far I have shown (in a preliminary analysis) that 50% improve in pregnancy, 25% do not change, and 25% worsen. The 6 week postpartum flare is even more significant (two-thirds worsen, a third do not change, and almost no one improves).  Out of the 50% that improve, the improvement is remarkable (85% of lesions clear by the third trimester!!).  Also I am showing a trend that estrogen correlates with improvement and progesterone does not (originally it was hypothesized that there would be a trend with progesterone because of its immunomodulatory effects on T-cells).  - Jenny M.

You may have searched here using the keyword “pregnancy,” PP, in which case you saw it’s a popular topic (over 30 email exchanges).  As Jenny's study verifies, many women experience acquiescence of their P during pregnancy — but some also experience no change or actually get worse.  In any event, we know that tremendous hormonal and other metabolic changes occur in women during pregnancy and the fact that these effect psoriasis makes us very curious. 

Hopefully this summer I'll be able to post some conclusions from Jenny's study.  -Ed

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