The feet are commonly affected by psoriatic arthritis, causing pain and affecting a person’s quality of life.
However, treatments and footwear options are available to help manage the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis of the feet.
Psoriatic arthritis of the foot
It is common for the disease to strike some of the thirty-odd joints in the feet, especially the toe joints closest to the nail. When this occurs toes often become red and swell into a sausage shape that is characteristic of psoriatic arthritis of the foot. Inflammation in the toe joints may also damage the nail bed, causing nails to be pitted or ridged or peel away from the nail bed.
In some instances psoriatic arthritis symptoms include soreness at the points where tendons and ligaments meet bones, a condition known as enthesopathy. With psoriatic arthritis of the foot, this may result in soreness in your sole or heel ( Achilles tendon) that makes every step a painful proposition.
In rare instances psoriatic arthritis manifests itself as arthritis mutilans, a disfiguring form of arthritis that usually targets the hands and feet and leads to significant bone damage.
Whether your psoriatic arthritis of the foot is mild or severe, it is important to do everything you can to minimize inflammation. Left untreated, it may cause permanent joint damage or deformity.