Psoriasis: My Second Autoimmune Disease

Last year, something weird started happening to my scalp. It was as though dry skin was layering up and it was peeling and eventually started getting gooey. It was gross and uncomfortable. My mom said it was probably something called cradle cap. It kept getting worse and then I started getting more skin issues. The skin behind my ear was getting similar to my scalp and the skin on my face was getting really dry and flaky. I remember one point where it was so uncomfortable that keeping my eyes open was exhausting. It did not look good.

In the Fall, when it just seemed to be getting worse and worse, I finally went to my family doctor and she thought that it was a fungal infection. I had several doctor's appointments over the Fall and Winter months, trying several different topicals (medicated creams and ointments), a few different oral medications, and a fungal shampoo. Some of the topicals seemed to help a bit, especially on my face, but my skin was still getting worse. I was getting red itchy spots on my arms and chest and my back was getting red and dry. At first I thought that the spots were just hives since they kind of looked like them at first but then they would change to bigger spots of layered, flaky red skin. They looked terrible, especially after getting wet. My skin issues seemed to just be continuing to spread.

My family doctor decided that it was time to refer me to a dermatologist since it was getting worse and there wasn't much more that she could do for me. We had to figure out what was going on and, for that, we needed a specialist. I ended up getting referred to a very nice dermatologist and she thought that it was also a fungal infection. She said that several things could cause a fungal infection and that we needed to figure out what was causing it in order to prescribe the right medication. She took a biopsy of my scalp since that was the worst skin and the origin of the skin issues. I was a bit nervous for the biopsy but it wasn't so bad. The dermatologist applied freezing to the area with a needle and then cut out a small chunk of my scalp down to just the fat tissue. She then stitched up the skin with a single stitch. This was my first time ever getting stitches.

When the results of the biopsy came back, it showed something different than a fungal infection. The result was psoriasis. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes the skin cells to not stop growing, resulting in dry layered patches of skin. I was disappointed but not surprised. A great-aunt on my dad's side of the family and a great-grandmother on my mom's side of the family both had psoriasis. Also, I already have another autoimmune disease: ulcerative colitis. The biologic drug that I am on for my ulcerative colitis, Remicade, is used to treat psoriasis as well but, in some cases, it can make it worse. I seem to be one of those cases since I had several of my regular doses of Remicade during my psoriasis flare up and it didn't seem to help at all. Since I have severe ulcerative colitis and the Remicade works so well for it, the dermatologist didn't want me to have to switch to another biologic drug but it became an option for if the topicals that she would prescribe for my psoriasis didn't work. The topicals that she prescribed included a medicated gel for my scalp twice a day, an anti-inflammatory cream for my face twice a day, a medicated cream for my infected scalp and skin behind my ear twice a day, and a medicated foam for my body once a day. Now that my face and infected scalp and ear are better, I am only using the gel for my scalp and foam for my body. Thankfully the topicals have been working great so it looks like I don't have to switch to another biologic drug.

Other than that scare of possibly having to switch biologic drugs, since there would be no guarantee that other biologic drugs would work for me like Remicade does, psoriasis is really more annoying than anything. The skin becomes itchy and uncomfortable and makes you want to cover it all up so that no one sees it but at least psoriasis doesn't affect an internal organ like my ulcerative colitis does. However, the fact that psoriasis is an autoimmune disease concerns me since it is my second autoimmune disease and I just keep thinking "What next?" I need to stay positive though. Having chronic disease as a young person can really make a person feel down but I need to just keep going. I can't let it all stop me from achieving my dreams.

Cheers,
Kaylie