Scaly skin plaques are one of the hallmark symptoms of psoriasis. The plaques may look red, pink, violet, or dark brown, depending on your natural skin tone. The scales often appear silvery or white.

Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition sometimes marked by scaly plaques of skin.

Psoriasis can have different appearances depending on where and what type it is.

If you have symptoms of psoriasis, take a look through pictures to determine if it’s scalp, guttate, or plaque psoriasis, for example, or if it’s eczema.

Once you determine which type of psoriasis you may have, you’ll be able to treat it more effectively.

In general, psoriasis consists of scaly, silvery, sharply defined skin plaques. The plaques may be located on the scalp, elbows, knees, lower back, ears, and genitals. It may be itchy or asymptomatic.

Psoriasis also comes in different forms. On light and fair skin tones, symptoms include raised, red or pink skin patches occasionally paired with a silvery scale.

On medium skin tones, it tends to be salmon-colored with silvery-white scales. On darker skin tones, the patches are more likely to appear as violet or dark brown patches.