What is systemic treatment for psoriasis?
For more severe forms of psoriasis, doctors sometimes prescribe systemic treatment, or medications that are taken as pills or injections. Newer medications, called biologic response modifiers, can suppress immune system processes that are linked to psoriasis. • Methotrexate: This is a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) that slows cell turnover by suppressing the immune system. People taking methotrexate must be closely monitored because it can cause liver damage and other serious side effects. It sometimes is combined with PUVA or UVB treatments. Methotrexate may cause birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women or by women who are planning to become pregnant. Retinoids: Oral retinoids, such as acitretin, have vitamin A-like properties and may be prescribed for severe cases of psoriasis that do not respond to other therapies. Because this treatment also may cause birth defects, women must protect themselves from pregnancy beginning one month before acitretin treatm
