For the first year of my diagnosis, the only people who knew about my psoriasis were my immediate family and one or two friends. It was a dark place for me. I was withholding my diagnosis and concealed any marks as best I could.
Nearly 2 years later, I finally began opening up more about my psoriasis. I started by telling a few friends, more family members, and then strangers who asked what the “marks” are on my arms or legs.
There have been numerous occasions where I met someone who also has psoriasis. Here are some of my discoveries and biggest takeaways:
Food and diet affect us all. Once diagnosed with psoriasis, doctors may recommend a lot of medicine, pills, and other remedies. If those don’t work out, you must look into your nutrition and experiment with what causes inflammation versus what doesn’t.
Personally, chocolate and other sweets can cause inflammation. After experimenting, the cleaner the food that I eat is, the less irritation I’ll face post-meal.
Constant application of products or lotion are crucial. If we leave our psoriasis marks unattended to, it can lead to even worse scarring. Do yourself a favor and apply moisturizer regularly, and then twice as much in the cold winters.
The people who take care of their skin and do the extra steps required to mitigate any inflammation are going to benefit the most. This is your new reality and it’s going to require attention and extra maintenance.
- Own up to your skin and be brave. Nobody is going to help you overcome any internal emotions besides you. Someone can be diagnosed with psoriasis at any time in their life, and that becomes their reality. If you’ve been one of the recipients of a psoriasis diagnosis, then you have to stay strong and keep your head high, no matter how insecure it may make you feel.
You’ve been faced with a tough challenge, and you will become stronger. Prior to psoriasis, I overthought my appearance. I always wanted to look my best and became obsessed with my perception to everyone else.
Psoriasis took away my smooth, clear skin, but it made me less concerned with being flawless or desired. I couldn’t care less if someone else doesn’t find my skin the most attractive because I have an amazing girlfriend and future wife. Samantha loves me for who I am, and that’s all I could ask for.
Psoriasis is going to come with a bunch of challenges and adversity, but in the long run, you will survive, you will carry on with your life, and achieve what you were set out to do. One piece of advice I hope you can take is to open up about your skin conditions with others. They may be going through something similar and really need to vent to someone. We are not alone.
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