Professor Luke O'Neill

You know, dust in your house is mainly dead skin.

Did you know that?

I bet there's a fact for you.

When you're dusting your house, you're dusting away dead skin.

In this case, the dead skin has been made very fast.

Because remember, the keratinocytes are dividing very fast and dying and forming these sheets of cells.

And that's what's coming off your skin when you have psoriasis.

And of course, when you're young, and when I was a teenager when this first began, it's a disturbing thing to see your skin flaking and red, you know.

And in fact, in the early days, people thought it was something like leprosy, which it does affect the skin.

And of course, it makes you very self-conscious, doesn't it?

And so it's a bit of a tricky one, and especially if it's on your face.

And some people get patches on their faces.

And all that's happening here is the skin is dividing and the skin flakes are coming off.

And it's red, but it doesn't look very nice, does it, for people?

So it's a bit of a concern in that regard.

And of course, the big thing was then how do you sort of slow that down and treat?

It became the big mission.

The other thing to say would be people did think it was infectious.

and they'd avoid people with psoriasis, thinking, oh, I'm going to catch it off that person.

It's not infectious.