Skin and tonsils are related? Would a tonsillectomy help people who have psoriasis? We don’t know. What we do know is that patients with psoriasis are nine times more likely to have enlarged tonsils, compared with patients without psoriasis, according to the results of recent small study.

Thirty-two patients with psoriasis and fourteen with other skin conditions (warts, melanoma, and nonmelanoma skin diseases) were studied. What the study found was that patients with psoriasis had significantly larger tonsils than patients without psoriasis. Even weirder is that the more severe the psoriasis the larger the tonsil size.

Small studies have shown that among patients with psoriasis, the skin lesions disappeared or improved after tonsillectomy. Is it something about the link between the robust immune response (large tonsils) and changes in the skin?

The authors of this study put it together like this: In chronically inflamed tonsils bacteria that live in the tonsils are released into the circulation causing stimulation of T cells (a type of white blood cell.) This constant stimulation may result in an autoantibody attacking the skin and driving the inflammatory response that causes psoriasis.

For those of you suffering from psoriasis would a tonsillectomy be a cure? Stay tuned.

- Dr. O