Lola
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Lola developed plaque psoriasis when she was 14. She has only recently noticed that psoriasis can have a big emotional impact on her. Lola would prefer to not rely on medications, like steroid creams, and she has recently started yoga to help with stress.
Lola is age 17 and a sixth form student. Her ethnicity is White British.
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Lola has had plaque psoriasis since she was 14 years old. Her first patches were on her elbows and scalp. At first, the doctors were unsure if it was psoriasis or a fungal infection. Lola felt disheartened when it was confirmed as psoriasis because she understood that it would be something that stayed with her for life. Her GP gave her a big leaflet about psoriasis but Lola feels there was a lot of information missing, such as that psoriasis is linked with increased risks of arthritis and depression. It was off-putting when Lola discovered about these other health aspects and she says that she doesn’t look online for information as much anymore. Lola’s psoriasis affects different parts of her body; for example, she recently noticed patches of psoriasis in her eyebrows. Having psoriasis on her scalp also caused her lymph glands to swell up once when the skin became infected. Lola’s psoriasis is sometimes also painful and itchy, which has an impact on her sleep. Stress is a major trigger for Lola’s psoriasis and she recently started yoga to help with managing the impact of this on her psoriasis.
Lola has been prescribed different steroid creams and vitamin D creams for her psoriasis. She finds that these are time-consuming to use, especially because she has specific creams for different parts of the body and she has to wash her hands in between using them. Another downside is that putting the creams near her hairline makes her hair greasy. Lola also used a special shampoo for a while but stopped as she didn’t think it helped her scalp psoriasis much. Last year, Lola decided to cut out steroids as she’d heard from a friend that these could have bad impacts on your health. She tried an alternative approach which included Lola changing her diet and trying meditation to cope with stress. Lola says it seemed to work during the summer when she was less stressed and out in sunlight a lot. However, Lola’s psoriasis flared up quite badly due to stress at sixth form and so she has returned to using the steroid creams from her doctor again. During the flare up, she became more self-conscious as the psoriasis spread, including onto her face, and she would dress to cover up her psoriasis. Lola finds that she has to be regular with using the creams or her psoriasis will be more severe. Lola says that another “step back” with managing her psoriasis is when she wears make-up, as this dries out her skin. She thinks she may be getting a referral for phototherapy (light therapy) soon and she’s hopeful about this.
Lola says that it’s only quite recently that she’s realised how much of an emotional impact psoriasis has on her. Lola hasn’t ever noticed people stare but she says that people ask her about it more when the psoriasis is visible on her face. She thinks that teenagers at school can be judgmental, though she feels less self-conscious about it now that she and her peers are a bit older in sixth form. Lola says that she doesn’t mind explaining about psoriasis so long as the person asking her doesn’t then make the situation awkward or embarrassing. Skin flaking is an especially difficult part of psoriasis for Lola, for example when there are bits of skin on her clothes or desk at school. It can be distracting to see the plaques and Lola has to stop herself from picking at these when trying to concentrate on her studies. Psoriasis has meant that Lola no longer dyes her hair or has it professionally cut, as she’s worried that it would be embarrassing for hairdressers to see the psoriasis on her scalp. She tends now to wear her hair up as she feels it is less itchy and cuts it herself.
Lola says that having psoriasis as a young person can mean extra responsibilities and stress at a time which is already tough with exams and other life decisions. Her advice to other young people with psoriasis is to talk to others with the condition. She also feels that doctors should give more information, such as explaining that there are different types of psoriasis and related health conditions. Lola emphasises that emotional support is important. For example, she appreciates her family, friends, girlfriend and work colleagues who compliment her and make her feel proud when her psoriasis is improving.
Having psoriasis on her scalp is difficult for Lola because of the skin flaking.
Having psoriasis on her scalp is difficult for Lola because of the skin flaking.
Lola thinks she should have been told by her doctors about the chances of developing other conditions, like psoriatic arthritis.
Lola thinks she should have been told by her doctors about the chances of developing other conditions, like psoriatic arthritis.
Lola’s psoriasis is better in the summer, but the effect doesn’t last.
Lola’s psoriasis is better in the summer, but the effect doesn’t last.
Lola finds applying topical treatments time-consuming. She sometimes prioritises areas to focus on, such as her face.
Lola finds applying topical treatments time-consuming. She sometimes prioritises areas to focus on, such as her face.
And that’s kind of the effect that I’m noticing now, is that before school it sometimes means I don’t get to eat breakfast or late at night when I’m really tired I can’t be bothered to stand in front of a mirror and like try and find cream, like get my cream to put on my spots.
So it’s the time at the moment is really annoying me.
At one time, Lola stopped using steroid creams and tried to manage her psoriasis with “a holistic approach”.
At one time, Lola stopped using steroid creams and tried to manage her psoriasis with “a holistic approach”.
Kind of increase your protein levels, look at Epsom salts so having a bath in them. Using really organic kind of shampoos and moisturisers so you’re not putting any chemicals on your skin. Getting in the sunshine as much as possible. Controlling stress and meditation, I wasn’t very good at that. Kind of taking time for yourself and doing light exercises to get rid of stress really, cos doing exams is not helpful with skin. Look at homeopathic remedies and, and I know acupuncture has been found to help it. Yeah, mainly proteins, fish oils, primrose oil, I know that was helpful I think. I guess it’s trying to make your skin more moisturised, I’m not sure. It worked when it was sunny and in the summer when I was less stressed it got better and it looked really good for a while and then I came back to school and it just went crazy in a way.
It spreaded a lot.
So are those all the things that you’ve tried including like the acupuncture?
I didn’t try acupuncture. I tried reflexology which was to try and get-, it doesn’t say it’s gonna cure your skin disease, I mean you can’t cure psoriasis anyway, but it- it makes your immune system, or your body kind of try to attempt to make your body work better, and that’s kind of trying to get my body to fight the skin disease in a way.
But I didn’t- [sigh] it worked but it- not for long. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try it, I’m just-, it didn’t work for me at that time.