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Psoriatic arthritis: the symptoms, who gets it, getting a diagnosis, treatment, and living with it
For anyone with psoriasis whose joints have started to hurt, anyone with a swollen finger or toe, a sore heel or pitted nails, anyone just told they have psoriatic arthritis, and the people beside them. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) says it is a progressive inflammatory condition of the joints and of the places where tendons and ligaments attach to bones. Most people who get it already have psoriasis, but a small group have joint pain before the skin rash. There is no cure, but treatments can slow its progression, lessen pain and protect the joints, and NIAMS says to see your doctor soon if joint symptoms arise, because early treatment is associated with better outcomes. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: the symptoms in the joints, skin, nails and eyes, who gets it and what triggers it, how it is diagnosed and who treats it, the kinds of medicine, and what you can do day to day. It builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Chest pain or severe trouble breathing: call 911 (ours).
- An eye that hurts, turns red, or vision that blurs or changes: get care the same day, at an emergency room if you cannot reach a provider (ours). NIAMS says uveitis, an eye inflammation that can come with psoriatic arthritis, must be treated promptly to avoid vision loss.
- One joint that suddenly turns hot, swollen and very painful, above all with a fever: get care the same day (ours).
More help
- Related: Psoriasis · Arthritis · Ankylosing spondylitis · Pain that lasts · Pain, bones and joints.
- Day to day: Medical equipment · Quit smoking · Eye care · Symptom diary · My medicines list · Depression.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · When medicine costs too much · Get ready for your appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIAMS’s Psoriatic Arthritis page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed August 2024), and on its Spanish twin, Artritis psoriásica (October 2024), which carries the same facts. Ours: calling 911 for chest pain or severe trouble breathing; getting care the same day, at an emergency room if you cannot reach a provider, for an eye that hurts, turns red, or vision that blurs or changes; getting care the same day for one joint that suddenly turns hot, swollen and very painful, above all with a fever; writing down which joints hurt, since when, and what makes it better or worse; bringing a list of every medicine you take; not stopping or changing a medicine on your own; asking what a test or treatment would change and what it costs; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any medicine’s name, any brand or dose, any supplement, remedy or product, and NIAMS’s research pages. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.