In this issue of Healio Psoriatic Disease we focus on complementary and alternative medicine for psoriasis. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), or "complementary health approaches," is a group of diverse medical and health care practices and products that are not presently consid-ered to be part of conven-tional medicine. There are two broad subgroups: 1) natural products, including herbs, vitamins, minerals and probiotics, the latter often sold as dietary supplements; and 2) mind and body practices, including a large and diverse group of procedures or techniques administered or taught by a trained practitioner such as yoga and meditation. There is broad interest in CAM in the United States, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the NIH funds research studies to further understand the risks and benefits of CAM approaches. As a common, chronic, incurable and stigmatizing disease, there is intense interest in CAM by patients with psoriasis. Complicating matters is that these patients can have prolonged spontaneous remissions and respond to placebo (PASI 75 is about 5% in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis receiving placebo) and therefore anecdotes abound about various CAM treatments improving psoriasis. A 2018 survey conducted by the National Psoriasis Foundation found that 41% of people with psoriasis reported using alternative therapies, with patients who had more severe disease being more likely to seek them out.
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