Psoriasis causes skin cells to build up rapidly on the surface.

Imagine a disease that is hiding in your genetic makeup, waiting for some external event to trigger it into existence.

When activated, this disease convinces your body that something is wrong with your own skin, causing a life-long struggle that culminates in itching, uncomfortable, embarrassing rashes that can be painful, hard to treat and impossible to cure.

Nearly 3 percent of the world's population has no need to imagine such a disease to them it is a very real ailment called psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a genetic auto-immune disease that causes skin cells to build up rapidly on the surface, creating extra-thick skin that can present itself as anything from silvery scales to red, itchy, dry patches.

Patients who have psoriasis are also predisposed to develop psoriatic arthritis, causing pain, stiffness and swelling of their joints.

No one knows exactly why psoriasis happens, but genetics, environmental factors and the immune system all figure into it. The condition is not contagious.

Certain events have been linked to triggering the condition into activity. Scientists have not discovered the direct connection but they agree that genetics are definitely involved. Of every three people with psoriasis, one will know a relative with the disease.

Amanda Jackson of Lakeland said, "My dad and his mother had it it is hereditary and not contagious, not at all." Jackson and two of her six children have it as well.

Environmental factors such as stress, injury to skin, infection, certain medications, smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, diet and allergies, can act as triggers to turn on the disease. After the initial outbreak, triggers can also cause flare-ups in the psoriasis cycle.

More:

Psoriasis Is an Auto-Immune Disease That Causes Itching and Rashes