Pustular Psoriasis (cont.)

Outlook

Complications may include the following: 

• Bacterial skin infections, hair loss, and nail loss
• Hypoalbuminemia (abnormally low amounts of albumin in the blood) due to loss of blood protein into tissues
• Hypocalcemia (abnormally low levels of calcium in the blood)
• Renal tubular necrosis from oligemia (blood deficiency in the body)
• Liver damage from blood deficiency in the body and general toxicity
• Malabsorption (in which your gastrointestinal tract doesn’t absorb nutrients sufficiently) and malnutrition

The von Zumbusch type (with fever and toxicity) can cause death if it is not treated during the acute phase. The heart or lungs may fail and cause death, but this usually only happens in untreated people. Older people with the von Zumbusch type have a poor prognosis.

Occasionally, acute respiratory distress syndrome can complicate generalized pustular psoriasis. People who have typical psoriasis before they experience a generalized pustular episode tend to do better than people with unusual forms of psoriasis before the pustular flare-up.

Children tend to recover well as long as serious skin infections are avoided.