Measuring quality of life

Quality of life measures allow health care practitioners to ascertain, using an objective measure, how psoriasis is impacting on an individual. As with many chronic skin conditions, psoriasis can severely impact on the quality of life of an individual. This may not be directly related to the severity of the disease, for example someone with minor disease may be severely affected by it and another person with severe disease may be able to cope with it, thus not allowing it to impact on their quality of life. It is therefore important for health care professionals not to make assumptions about how an individual is affected by their skin condition. These are discussed further in Psychological and social aspects of skin care.