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Alcohol and psoriasis
Ilumetri® (tildrakizumab)
Emotional
Wellbeing Programme
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The contents of this website are not intended to be medical advice.
Please see your healthcare
professional
with any specific questions about your condition and / or treatment.
Alcohol affects psoriasis flares directly by increasing inflammation in the body, this is why it is important to consider how much alcohol you are consuming. If you do drink, it is advisable to do so in moderation as heavy drinking may trigger psoriasis and interfere with your response to treatment.
The benefits of making small changes to your drinking habits, even if you do not drink much, could be beneficial for you. It can lessen your chance of a flare and improve your general skin health, your mood, and your waistline!
It is worth thinking about why, when and where we drink alcohol. For many of us the ‘why’ is about relaxing with friends. However, some of us drink more to help us to feel better or to sleep.
Only you can decide if this is the right time to cut down the amount of alcohol you drink. To help decide if it is the right time, it may be useful to think of how you can benefit from a change. For example, maybe consider the following statements:
If you have psoriasis there is no simple answer to this question. To help you understand how much is too much, the image below shows how many units there are in different types of alcohol. Per NHS guidance, the maximum number of units of alcohol suggested per week is 14 for men and women spread across 3 days or more.
If you don’t feel like you can reduce your alcohol at the moment, be honest with your doctor. Stopping drinking altogether can be tough, but there are various steps you can take, and people you can reach out to, to gradually reduce your alcohol intake. Here are our tips on how to gradually stop drinking:
Before you start drinking, set a limit on how much alcohol you are going to drink – be it weekly or monthly. Make a list of what alcohol you have had to drink each week and use the unit calculator to help calculate the total number of units you have consumed. This makes it easier to gradually reduce your intake.
Write down how much you are currently spending on alcohol each week – the results may surprise you. Ask yourself if you want to be spending this much on alcohol, or if this money could be put to better use.
Let your friends and family know you are cutting down and that it’s important to you. This may require asking them to reduce offers of alcohol.
This way, you’re always taking a positive step forward. If you slip up along the way, don’t be hard on yourself. The journey to reducing your alcohol intake often doesn’t always go to plan, and you can start afresh the moment you decide that’s what you want to do.
If you still like to drink every once in a while, go for smaller sizes. Try bottled beer instead of cans or pints, or a small glass of wine instead of a large one.
Cut down your alcohol intake by swapping strong beers or wines for ones with a lower strength (ABV in %). You will find this information on the bottle. Alternatively, you could go for a non-alcoholic beer or drink instead.
For occasions when alcohol is consumed, have a glass of water beforehand, and alternate alcoholic drinks with water or other non-alcoholic drinks.
Try to have several drink-free days each week. Once you have mastered this, you could do this monthly. That, of course, doesn’t mean binge drinking to ‘catch up’ on all the alcohol-free days you missed. But why not take a moment to get curious about why you drink – it may be to relax or socialise, it will vary between people – are there other healthier ways to achieve the same outcomes?
It can help to write down some of the things you might do to reduce your alcohol intake. Try tracking your alcohol intake each week using the unit tracker to see if the changes have made an improvement. If the activity is not improving your alcohol intake, replace it with an alternative.
If you feel that you are dependent on alcohol, do book an appointment with your healthcare professional. There is lots of help available, including free advice from the NHS and Get help now | Alcohol Change UK.