Psoriatic arthritis

For a lay person:

Psoriatic arthritis is an inflammatory arthritis that affects some people with the skin condition psoriasis. It causes painful, swollen joints, sometimes whole swollen fingers or toes.

For a trained medical person:

A seronegative spondyloarthritis with peripheral arthritis, dactylitis, enthesitis and axial disease. Treatment: NSAIDs, methotrexate and biologics (anti-TNF, IL-17, IL-23).

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Yin deficiency with concomitant wind damp heat bi; Liver-spleen disharmony with damp heat stasis and stagnation; Damp heat toxins damaging yin fluids. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.