Psodukie's Psoriatic Adventures

Sadukie's Adventures with Psoriatic Disease'

About My Psoriasis Diagnosis

October 29, 2023
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In early 2020, as the pandemic arrived, I was battling a rash throughout my body. A trip to urgent care suggested it was a fungal infection, so I bathed myself in clotrimazole in hopes of clearing it up. But about a week later, I talked with my doctor – a resident going through the local hospital’s program, working under the supervision of another doctor. He had recently done a rotation in dermatology and recommended me to our local dermatologist – “the best in the area”, he told me.

I was new to the whole specialist thing. I had heard nightmares about trying to get into them, so I suspected it would take me forever to be seen. The local dermatology group makes it a point to get people in early, so I was able to get in within a couple weeks. 😳

When I went in, I was seen by the physician’s assistant. She came in to see what I was battling, and it was a classic textbox case of psoriasis! However, I had it in multiple spots and in different forms – enough to be diagnosed with severe psoriasis.

Multiple Forms?

Psoriasis isn’t a simple case of “oh there’s a rash! that’s psorasis!”. There’s a little bit more to it. Let’s talk about the psoriasis types that I’ve got.

Inverse Psoriasis

This type of psoriasis appears in folds of the skin – including armpits, groin, belly buttons, behind the knees, and under breasts. When I go through these flares, they look like sunburn patches or raw burn patches. They are easily treated with a steroid cream.

Scalp Psoriasis

When I was younger, they thought I had issues with dandruff and dry scalp. I had used shampoo with zinc in it, which helped a little. However, I had gone to get my hair cut and wanted to change my part – and when we moved my hair, it felt like my scalp was getting ripped off. I ended up just getting a trim and then talked with the dermatologist’s assistant when I saw them. She looked at my scalp and diagnosed it as sebopsoriasis – a combination of seborrheic dermatitis and scalp psoriasis. It took a bunch of trial and error to find the right meds to keep it in line.

Guttate Psoriasis

When these appear, I get these little, raised bumps on my skin. Mine appear commonly on my torso, arms, and legs. I have creams that help me to keep those in line as well.

References

These are some sites I use as references when talking about my psoriasis:

In my next post, I’ll share the other half of my Psoriatic Disease diagnosis – the arthritis.