Psoriasis comes with several things that are surprising. Throughout the past 3 years since my diagnosis, I’ve found that it comes in waves and is very inconsistent.
For instance, the winter of 2022 gave me nearly no trouble. However, the early springtime did. It could have to do with my diet, stress, levels, or dry air.
Focusing on diet, I was surprised that condiments actually cause intense flare-ups. When it comes to eating hot dogs, wings, or anything else, flare-ups would occur. Eating lots of ketchup, ranch, and barbecue sauce would lead to itchiness and irritation shortly after.
The more I look at my skin during intense flare-ups, I notice that it looks like scaly bull's-eyes. Marks typically start as small and then intensify shortly after.
Initially, I thought it would last for a couple of weeks, but in some cases, the marks can last for months, which is a pain to deal with.
One of the therapies used to combat psoriasis is light therapy. Doctors would have me strip down to my underwear and stand in a light box with some goggles on.
Light therapy is effective for reducing or clearing up the symptoms of psoriasis. An estimated 75 percent of people using narrow-band ultraviolet B (UVB) therapy, which is the most common type, will develop clear skin. This will last for at least 6 months.
I could smell my skin burning a bit and would typically come outside with a slight tan. It helped harden the fresh psoriasis wounds and ease some irritation. I would typically do the therapy once or twice a week.
When I found out I had psoriasis, I assumed it would only be on a few places of my body. Unfortunately, the flare-ups occur all over from my scalp all the way to my knees. It can take a toll on your mental health and make you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.
It surprises me how much the psoriasis-specialized lotion costs. For a small 8-ounce bottle of CeraVe psoriasis lotion, it costed $20 – far more than any standard-use lotion on the market.
Although psoriasis came with so many surprises, I learn something new every single year about the way it affects my body. All you can do is learn from the experiences and adapt to the way your body reacts.
Photo Credit: Tharakorn Arunothai / EyeEm via Getty Images
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