Health Boards
Hello! I'm really happy to be here as this is all new to me.
A bit about myself... My name is Kathy (Kat for short) and I live in the U.S. in the state of Georgia. A bit over a year ago, my ears started to get red, itchy, scaly and I had no clue as to why so I just moisturized (which didn't help much.) After a couple of months, I had a visit with a doctor for a test and showed the nurse my ears and she recommended an over the counter cream... which as you can probably figure, didn't help either. A few months after that, I had a visit with my regular doctor and told him what was going on and also that I had a spot on my upper back and on my neck and he gave me a prescription cream..... which of course didn't help either. So on my follow up visit, 4 months later, he sent me to a dermatologist. By then it had started on my scalp and the doc took one look and said psoriasis. Initially, I was simply thinking, good, now maybe someone can fix it! So when he explained that psoriasis is "no cure" I thought... WHAT? I had heard of psoriasis, but thought it was such that you'd apply a cream and it would be gone. But, ok, so they have treatments, that won't be so bad, right? /sigh I had no understanding at all. Anyway, my first dermatologist visit was about 4 months ago and he prescribed a topical - Fluocinolone Acetonide Scalp Oil. Along with an antibiotic because I had a staph infection. So, I start using the messy oil. Over the past months, the psoriasis has came out on my face, neck, ears, back, elbows, knees and stomach. The oil helped somewhat with the itchiness but oh my, the scalp psoriasis is just horrible. I want to scratch myself to death and I leave a trail behind due to the scaling. So, back to the dermatologist I went and he put me on Acitretin (took the first one today as the pharmacy had to order it) and UVB light therapy (did the first session of 20 seconds on Friday, with three scheduled this next week and to continue at 3 per week until....they say everyone is different so no clue how many I'll need) so hopefully something helps.
So as you can see, I probably don't have a lot of helpful stuff to share on what has worked for me, but hopefully that changes with these treatments I've just started. I'm looking forward to reading through the forums and learning more as well as just chatting with people who understand.
A bit about myself... My name is Kathy (Kat for short) and I live in the U.S. in the state of Georgia. A bit over a year ago, my ears started to get red, itchy, scaly and I had no clue as to why so I just moisturized (which didn't help much.) After a couple of months, I had a visit with a doctor for a test and showed the nurse my ears and she recommended an over the counter cream... which as you can probably figure, didn't help either. A few months after that, I had a visit with my regular doctor and told him what was going on and also that I had a spot on my upper back and on my neck and he gave me a prescription cream..... which of course didn't help either. So on my follow up visit, 4 months later, he sent me to a dermatologist. By then it had started on my scalp and the doc took one look and said psoriasis. Initially, I was simply thinking, good, now maybe someone can fix it! So when he explained that psoriasis is "no cure" I thought... WHAT? I had heard of psoriasis, but thought it was such that you'd apply a cream and it would be gone. But, ok, so they have treatments, that won't be so bad, right? /sigh I had no understanding at all. Anyway, my first dermatologist visit was about 4 months ago and he prescribed a topical - Fluocinolone Acetonide Scalp Oil. Along with an antibiotic because I had a staph infection. So, I start using the messy oil. Over the past months, the psoriasis has came out on my face, neck, ears, back, elbows, knees and stomach. The oil helped somewhat with the itchiness but oh my, the scalp psoriasis is just horrible. I want to scratch myself to death and I leave a trail behind due to the scaling. So, back to the dermatologist I went and he put me on Acitretin (took the first one today as the pharmacy had to order it) and UVB light therapy (did the first session of 20 seconds on Friday, with three scheduled this next week and to continue at 3 per week until....they say everyone is different so no clue how many I'll need) so hopefully something helps.
So as you can see, I probably don't have a lot of helpful stuff to share on what has worked for me, but hopefully that changes with these treatments I've just started. I'm looking forward to reading through the forums and learning more as well as just chatting with people who understand.