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We don't really have evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on psoriasis. This large review and meta-analysis from 2023 by Formisano et al [1] i

We don't really have evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on psoriasis. This large review and meta-analysis from 2023 by Formisano et al [1] is a very good paper on the subject. It's true that studies regularly show that vitamin D deficiency correlates with psoriasis disease severity, at least when it comes to plaque psoriasis. But when patients are given vitamin D to normalize levels, their psoriasis tends not does not improve. (We have a tiny handful of studies that do show improvement in symptoms, but they are small and of poor quality.) It may be that severe psoriasis simply causes vitamin D deficiency, e.g. by disrupting the skin's ability to synthesize vitamin D (which normally builds up and is released upon exposure to sunlight), rather than vitamin D deficiency causing psoriasis. There's at least one study that shows that people with psoriasis tend to avoid the sun more than other people. [1] https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/15/3387 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/15/3387

ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
One of the problems with psoriasis is that it seems to behave differently for different people and also changes over time too which makes it very much a case of trial and error to find what treatments work for people. There's definitely a link between psoriasis and vitamin D, but as you state, it's not necessarily a deficiency that triggers it. However, anecdotally there's people who do benefit from taking vitamin D3 (along with K2 seems to be a popular combo) so I think it's worth a shot though I have tried it in the past without much success (that wasn't erythrodermic psoriasis though). I've definitely noticed that sun exposure does help with plaque psoriasis and most people will see that their condition worsens over winter - that may be due to lower sunlight levels or cold, dry air exacerbating skin issues. And yes, psoriasis does affect people's self-image, so it can be embarrassing to expose skin when it looks like you've got some kind of plague.
- atombender 3y ago
  True, and I would never go as far as saying that the benefits have been disproven. I do hear about many people trying to treat their psoriasis wit vitamin D, but not about many success stories. As far as we know, the reason sunlight helps psoriasis is not vitamin D, but because UVB at specific wavelengths has an immunosuppressive effect on the skin. It induces apoptosis of T-cells and promotes keratinocyte differentiation.
  - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
    > I do hear about many people trying to treat their psoriasis wit vitamin D, but not about many success stories. It seems to my non-expert opinion that it's a piece of the puzzle, but there's a lot more other pieces. It seems to be often linked with selenium deficiency and I've read one case of a really bad erythrodermic patient that was treated with calcium.
deleted 3y ago
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ndsipa_pomu 3y ago

One of the problems with psoriasis is that it seems to behave differently for different people and also changes over time too which makes it very much a case of trial and error to find what treatments work for people. There's definitely a link between psoriasis and vitamin D, but as you state, it's not necessarily a deficiency that triggers it. However, anecdotally there's people who do benefit from taking vitamin D3 (along with K2 seems to be a popular combo) so I think it's worth a shot though I have tried it in the past without much success (that wasn't erythrodermic psoriasis though). I've definitely noticed that sun exposure does help with plaque psoriasis and most people will see that their condition worsens over winter - that may be due to lower sunlight levels or cold, dry air exacerbating skin issues. And yes, psoriasis does affect people's self-image, so it can be embarrassing to expose skin when it looks like you've got some kind of plague.

atombender 3y ago
True, and I would never go as far as saying that the benefits have been disproven. I do hear about many people trying to treat their psoriasis wit vitamin D, but not about many success stories. As far as we know, the reason sunlight helps psoriasis is not vitamin D, but because UVB at specific wavelengths has an immunosuppressive effect on the skin. It induces apoptosis of T-cells and promotes keratinocyte differentiation.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
  > I do hear about many people trying to treat their psoriasis wit vitamin D, but not about many success stories. It seems to my non-expert opinion that it's a piece of the puzzle, but there's a lot more other pieces. It seems to be often linked with selenium deficiency and I've read one case of a really bad erythrodermic patient that was treated with calcium.

deleted 3y ago

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