Growing Up With Psoriasis

Physically I was dealing with a lot as well as mentally because it was extremely hard to have the burden of a disease that other people can see. At my worst, I was covered on 90% of my body. The only thing that was not affected by psoriasis was my face.

Before I was diagnosed, my grandmother noticed patches on my knees and elbows, but we just thought, hey, she's an ashy little girl. We never thought that it was a serious disease. It was not until I encountered chickenpox that my grandmother noticed that the chicken pox start that you normally get weren't healing correctly, and it started to look like something else. So that's when she took me to the dermatologist and determined that I, in fact, had psoriasis.

My reaction to the diagnosis-- at seven, I really didn't understand. I did not know what psoriasis was, and here you are with a serious disease now that you are held responsible to explain to other people. So it was really difficult and hard to comprehend. Psoriasis has affected my quality of life in a variety of ways. I just remember being seven, and, at first, it really didn't hit me that I was different from those around me, until I was about in the fifth grade. By this time, I'm 10, and I had to take a swim class and wear a swimsuit. And I just remember all my classmates asking me like, what's that on your skin?

I remember being in a pageant, and I remember that anxiety hitting and almost not doing the pageant. I just remember just feeling overwhelmed and almost not doing it because I didn't know how those around me we're going to take it. And I ended up being in the pageant and winning. And I just think about that moment, that If I would have allowed psoriasis to stop me, I would not have fulfilled that goal.

Right now, the injection I'm currently on has been working wonderfully. I'm about 80% to 90% clear now. So I'm not perfect, but I'm at a point with my disease where I'm comfortable, and I can handle it, and it's not overwhelming. It took awhile to get to this point though. I was covered almost 100% up until a year ago. And so this is a new found life for me, and it really has changed how I react to things, the way I feel about myself, how engaged I am in different activities. So it's been wonderful.