The PASI Assessment and tracking changes in your psoriasis
There are two recommended ways to track the impact of your psoriasis, together with your healthcare professional:
- The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index Assessment (PASI)15
- Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI).28
What is the PASI Assessment?
The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index Assessment (or PASI Assessment, pronounced ‘pah-see’) is a formal system used by healthcare professionals, like dermatologists, to measure the severity and extent of your psoriasis, before and after treatment.15
In the PASI Assessment, your healthcare professional will provide you with a score which will indicate the intensity of your psoriasis, based on: 15
- Degree of redness
- Thickness and scaling of plaques
- Proportion of the body affected
The degree of each item above is graded from 0 (none) to 4 (very severe) across three characteristics:
- Erythema, which refers to how red it looks
- Thickness, which is the depth of the area affected
- Scaling, which assesses the coarseness of the scales29
Your PASI score provided by your healthcare professional, could be mild, moderate, or severe. If you have a high PASI score, you psoriasis likely to be severe.15,29
Depending upon the outcome of your PASI assessment, your healthcare professional will be able to discuss with you the best options that suit you.
Coming to terms with your diagnosis
Learning you have psoriasis can raise a lot of questions about how it could affect your life.
A diagnosis means you can receive treatment, so you can expect to see some improvements in your symptoms, which may also improve other aspects of your life.
Letting your healthcare professional know how psoriasis affects your day-to-day life is the best way to ensure your treatment best targets the things that bother you, including using the Dermatology Life Quality Index mentioned above.
What is the Dermatology Life Quality Index?
The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) is a questionnaire sometimes used by healthcare professionals to assess how your psoriasis is impacting quality of life. This is also something you can do without a healthcare professional before your next appointment to help you discuss how you are feeling during your next appointment.
Questions included in the Index explore:
- Over the last week, how itchy, sore, painful, or stinging has your skin been?
- Over the last week, how much has your skin influenced the clothes you wear?
- Over the last week, has your skin prevented you from working or studying?
- Over the last week, how much has your skin created problems with your partner or any of your close friends or relatives?28
