My psoriasis started in the folds of my ears. Basically, they’d get flakey for a time, then get better. After a few years of that, they started not getting better and I started getting the same condition at other areas, such as the back of my scalp, where there is a small patch.
I saw my Doc about it, and he prescribed a steroid cream. The cream works great at clearing it up, everywhere except the scalp! I just can’t seem to get rid of that spot, ever!
No biggy, since my hair covers it, and really the condition is only cosmetic for me (thankfully no pain).
Well, I got a hair cut last night. I was quite specific to the lady that I wanted it kept longish, though neat in back at the collar and around the ears. Before I could jump, her clippers went right up the back of my head.
sigh
So I got a close cut, one I used to always get before this (though never from there- I’m new to that place).
I get home, and really like the haircut. But then I take a small mirror to check the spot on the back of my head: it looks like a red paint mark about the size and shape of an oblong silver dollar.
So of course I’m feeling self conscious about this, wondering just how weird it looks to people staring at the back of my head.
My son has psoriasis - his big “patches” are right around his ankles. Just at the right spot for socks to rub them raw. Also, the tops of his feet. They itch terribly when he wears socks. He’s three. He doesn’t understand about psoriasis.
Psoriasis does suck. Willing to bet that anyone with it, or who know someone with it, notices that said people seem to shrug off colds and flus and general sickness faster than most people? I have psoriasis bad, and it runs in my family, but the ones with it the worst get the flu or a cold maybe once, twice in a decade. Always wondered if that was due to the interesting immune system we have. Which is why I always ask people with it how they do with common illnesses.
Oh, and I live in a place that is 110+ for at least half the year, and cannot wear shorts or short sleeves without causing a riot of questions, if not actually scootching away from me. So I wear long sleeves and long pants all the time, to the point that some people I worked with, while in Virginia, actually thought I was possibly Muslim. Well, enough to ask if I WAS, anyway.
Never found a good way to cover it up, on the scalp <the only place I don’t get it, apparantly> or anywhere else, sorry. Just tell people it’s a tic bite from when you went camping and had to fight off that bear, make it a war wound!
Yeah, before my psoriasis manifested itself, I would get sick around once a year or so. Counting the time before I was even aware of having psoriasis, I haven’t had a cold or fever in well over a decade. Not a bad tradeoff, considering that my psoriasis is now well controlled to the point where I only get very tiny and temporary occurrences mostly just on my fingers - and that’s with no internal or external medications.
The most severe it ever got was when about a third of the back of my scalp was affected. I used the above mentioned lotion to clear it up, but once it was vanquished, I haven’t needed any other medications.
I’ve mentioned it in another thread before, and I realize it’s purely anecdotal and sounds like woo, but I’m pretty convinced that the most significant trigger for me was consuming artificial sweeteners. Using mild soap, and going “no-poo” by thoroughly rinsing, scrubbing with conditioner and thoroughly rinsing again, seems to have helped, as well.
I do need to cut down on the diet pepsi, lol. My own personal experiences have a wide variety of ranges concerning diet, environment and stress levels over the 30 years I’ve had it severely, but the one constant has been the psoriasis. It has never flagged, ever, not even without anything but water and coffee for 6 months at a time. Well, and food. But healthy, boring food, nothing artificial.
well…once. ONCE I noticed a sort of lessening. And that was when the only showers I took were salt-water showers. O.o I was on a fishing boat, and that was the only water available for showering. And that’s the only thing I can think of that was different from other fishing boats I was on, so…yeah. I’m not a tub person, but if it ever got to the point that I literally HAD to get rid of the psoriasis or die, I suppose I’d try sitting in epsom salts for an hour a day or something.
I read here that tea tree oil works well for this. My husband used it with great success.
He mixed it with shampoo and left it on for a full five minutes. It took a few weeks, but it really did the trick.
I got shots in my scalp at the dermatologist when I was having issues years ago. Stress is what caused mine. It’s terrible. You have my sympathy.
My brother has psoriasis, while I get eczema. Both suck, but I would say his psoriasis is marginally worse than my affliction, as it seems to leave scarring.
Covered in the stuff, having some luck with Dovobet gel. I have noticed I do get ill less than most people, hadn’t linked that to the psoriasis however.
I have a big patch on my elbow that’s growing and starting to gross me out enough that I am going to go to the doctor about it. I have a small patch on my scalp too, and besides causing dandruff, the hair dresser always jerks her hand away from it like she’s touching a leper.
Your hair will grow quickly, though! I doubt people will notice at all. Still, psoriasis is stupid.
Patches on my elbows. I think it was triggered when I practiced akido, and elbows in a rough gi were scraped across the mat during falls. Now, it seems to get worse when I’m stressed, and when i eat bread/wheat. Sitting in sulphur hot springs makes it go away, and swimming in the ocean helps, but I don’t have either where I live now.
I literally just came from my dermatologist to get my prescriptions re-upped. Anyway, I have it on my scalp, knees and elbows but the scalp is the worst. Itching and flaking that get moderately better in the summer. I haven’t tried it yet but he suggested an occlusive dressing on the scalp. This would mean putting on whatever lotion or cream and wearing a swim cap to bed. Plastic wrap around my knee made a dramatic difference.
Yeah, there have been people on this very board who have had nothing but good things to say about the biologics, and I think Humira specifically. But I’m not yet at the point that I’d trade an otherwise healthy immune system for clear skin. And getting older doesn’t make me any more likely to want to sport a bathing suit or anything.
OP, have you been diagnosed by a dermatologist? GPs are great and everything, but they’re not experts on skin diseases. What you describe on your ears sounds a lot like seborrheic dermatitis, and it could be what’s on your scalp, as well. It’s something to look into- much easier to treat than psoriasis, too.
Just tell people it’s a tic bite from when you went camping and had to fight off that bear, make it a war wound!