Patient Stories

When I first noticed I had symptoms of psoriasis at 18 years old, it was mainly on my upper thighs and hips. In the last 9 months or so, since I’ve been trying to go to the gym more, I’ve started to develop tight, red patches in places I didn’t think I would ever get psoriasis.

I had grown to accept that I had psoriasis on my body, and I was able to manage and cope with that. But now it’s on my genitals—I am so unhappy. Some days, it’s even affecting the way I walk! Is this how it’s going to be, that I’m going to be uncomfortable in such an intimate area forever?

My best friend urged me not to put up with this. She works at a clinic and found a questionnaire about my symptoms and all that I’m going through. It helped me open up to my doctor about how much it’s affecting me. It was a big step in the right direction.

I’ve had psoriasis since I was a kid—35 years. I used to put up with it because it didn’t affect my life too much—just patches on my elbows and chest—and it would flare every so often, which I mostly covered up with a t-shirt.

But recently my scalp has become so itchy and flaky. I can’t wear dark tops anymore because the flakes on my shoulders become even more obvious. It’s so embarrassing.

My finger has swollen up, too. I am in constant pain. Obviously, as a plumber I use my hands all day, and I can’t slow down—competition for work is tough; just one bad review and you’re out of work! I had to do something. I decided to have a frank discussion with my doctor. Tell him how this is really affecting my life. Yes, it was embarrassing, but really worth it, I think.

Although psoriasis can appear anywhere on the body, my psoriasis is particularly bad on the palms of my hands and soles of my feet. I’m a bricklayer, so I have to use my hands to work properly. I have to wear gloves, I have to wear safety boots, and these can irritate my psoriasis even more. I have to wear a uniform which rubs against my skin, causing a burning sensation. I'm self-employed, so if I take time off work, I don't get paid, and I need to support my family. I just want my day-to-day life to not be affected by pain or additional stress from this condition.

I have a son. I would love to be able to hold his hands, play with him without having to worry about stopping for a break, or stopping altogether because of the pain, you know. I do try and hide it, but my son, he knows something’s up. He’s very smart, and he’s started going to his mom more for playtime instead, you know. So when your son does these kind of things, it’s hard to not to get affected by it. Of course, I try to make up for it in other ways, but I still have this feeling of guilt.

If you come forward and speak to people who are around you and say, "Look, I'm going through this situation," you will be absolutely surprised how much care and affection they offer you. And that alone makes you feel so much better, because you're not alone any more. So definitely talk to your friends and those who are around you that do care, and don't keep it to yourself. Don't try and hide it. It will make things better if you do speak to your friends and family about it.”

I was in my forties when I noticed my nails changing; it hadn’t been an overnight thing, but gradually yellow and dark crusts appeared on a few of my fingers. The psoriasis on my arms and shoulders I could easily enough cover up, but you can’t do that with your fingernails. They are out there for everyone to see.

I volunteer at the local charity shop. My colleagues would see me come in and think everything was fine, but it wasn’t. I looked fine, but I often felt, you know, so, so tired. My joints would ache, and some of my toenails were missing. I kept it all to myself all the time. And it just makes you quite introverted in that way and afraid to share with people.

I still took a little bit of persuasion to go to the doctor who consequently referred me to a dermatologist and a rheumatologist. There is no cure obviously, but we looked at several possible treatment solutions to make it as easy as possible to live with this.

Psoriasis has been part of my life, now, for well over 30 years. I had a very, very unhealthy lifestyle. I was a smoker with a stressful and sedentary office life. Without knowing what I was doing, I was actually doing it all wrong.

Slowly, but surely, I did change my lifestyle and so much for the better. It eased the problem of the psoriasis itching, with a healthier lifestyle came the fact that my red, blotchy skin started to disappear. So lifestyle changes equal changes in your body and your skin and it was just, to me, I'm so much happier now. I've got an energy for work now, which I haven't had for a long time.

And it takes time, progress takes time, but taking care of yourself it's well worth the investment.

I found that since joining university, the thing that I've struggled most with is the mental health side of things. So not only is anxiety and stress a massive trigger for my psoriasis, psoriasis also causes me a lot of anxiety and stress, so it's a bit of a vicious cycle.

This has a massive impact on life as a student. Obviously with university studies, there's a great deal of coursework, lectures, seminars, and workshops to attend, and it can be a really daunting process knowing that when I'm going in, my skin might be flaring. It can just make me really quite self-conscious about everything, which impacts on how long it takes me to get ready in a morning or what clothes I might choose to wear.

My social life at university is also affected because of my psoriasis. Because I can be so self-conscious and nervous about my skin, especially around new people, I find that I've missed out on quite a lot of the social experiences at university, like going out and having fun in general, because I'm so conscious about showing my skin.

Despite the ways that I struggle at university, I found a really good support system with my dermatologist.

I stopped looking at myself in the mirror. I really didn’t like the way that my body looked or felt actually. It felt like everything was going wrong with it, inside and out, so I was really embarrassed. And my self-esteem nosedived, it reached all new levels of low. I avoided going out socially, and even at work I was rude to my colleagues and even to customers. The psoriasis made me more irritated and shorter tempered with people than I really intended to be. So, it was becoming a big issue for me.

Together with my dermatologist, we tried a variety of treatment options for my psoriasis, and although the consultations seemed on the short side, my partner and I made a real effort to make a list of all the ways that it affected me between visits and how the psoriasis had progressed.

I can still feel uncomfortable about the way that I look, but most days, I do actually manage a smile for myself in the mirror. I’ve learnt that psoriasis is part of who I am and it will always be there and that’s actually okay.

I was first diagnosed when I was 19. My psoriasis slowly moved up my leg and across to my back. The red flaky patches were incredibly embarrassing. And not only that, the uncontrollable itching that went along with it. I did try to convince myself that perhaps it was just a phase I was going through and it might be something that I might grow out of.

Unfortunately, I’ve had psoriasis now for all of my adult life. The worst thing about it has to be the constant itching and the scratching. It's just got so uncontrollable at points. When you go to bed and you're laying there, it feels like, I suppose it would be sand or glass, just rubbing against your skin.

As a truck driver, I need to be able to focus on the road. The psoriasis doesn’t help that. Not only that, but the uniform seems to aggravate the psoriasis. I have spoken to my boss. He tried to be sympathetic, but whether he couldn’t do anything about it or didn’t do anything about it, who knows.

If having psoriasis has taught me anything, it’s to ask for help and not to stress. You need to know what sort of help you need. In my case, it was making me particularly low and particularly down. But once I realized that, I was able then to approach a dermatologist, they in turn sent me to a specialist, who, through the period has been able to help me with the highs and the lows.