TSW (Topical Steroid Withdrawal)

[Kat]

I haven't used any topicals at all for the last 2 weeks. Coincidentally, my skin is significantly clearer. I don't know if it's from the Acitretin, from not using steroid cream or a combination of both. I'd be interested to hear from others what their experience was like when they stopped using topicals.

I won't ever put that on stuff on my body again. EVER. I'm thankful that my exposure to the stuff has been pretty minimal compared to others. This really makes me angry - my doctor wanted me to cover myself in topicals twice a day and when I asked him about stopping after two weeks he told me not to. Grrrrrr...

Kelly (& Kat),
This is indeed what I conclude time and time again, with all new members. They all go through the same path at the dermatologist. And those dermatologists, or other doctors, don't seem to learn.
The path via Steroids, creams and e.g. also MTX, is "wrong", just plain wrong, but they don't seem to know. And also don't seem to learn this in school, I explicitly call it school, as it can hardly be called University by making so much mistakes. (my frustration)

What I understood of Steroids is that they increase the making of new skin. Am I correct?
BUT Psoriasis is already an immune problem with expresses in ……. right, creating increasingly more skin-tissue. So while we already have the problem of increased skin production, we increase this again by using steroids
Now am I stupid or not, but this is going into every logic I can imagine.

Dr. Kunst, the improver of my type of medication, has said it to me, and it is also known in practice, if you stop with a psoriasis treatment, normally the psoriasis comes back in increased form. Unfortunately

My understanding (which admittedly is still limited) on the topical steroid withdrawal is that your skin becomes addicted to steroids in that your body becomes dependent on the steroids. The symptoms are very similar to eczema or psoriasis and you can have flare ups with TSW. The difference if that if you stop steroids, eventually you can be able to be cured of TSW (although the process can take some people years) and with most if they ever use a steroid cream again, it's right back to the "addiction". I would imagine (again, my knowledge is limited) that if someone with a skin problem developed TSW, it could be hard to tell as the symptoms could mirror the disease they are being treated for. So it makes me wonder.... if someone is being treated for eczema or psoriasis using steroids and then put on meds, if they are not clearing up and still using the steroids, could it be the body's addiction to steroids that is keeping them from getting better?

I don't think I have TSW, and I'm not anti steroids, but I do think it's something to be very aware of.