Hi looking for advice

[KLBolton]

Hi,
I suffer from psoriasis on chest and stomach, my back and in my hair. I no I should consider myself lucky as I do not have it as bad as some people and I am mostly able to cover it up. However it's currently got worse all over I use to just have spots which are now joining to small patches and is beginning to scar.

I have a few things i hope to find advice on and any advice is very much welcome and appreciated:

1) the flakes of dry skin I often pick off is this the right or wrong thing to do, could this be why it's scaring?
2) any advice to remove or treat the scars
3) I was advices to use Johnsons shampoo and head and shoulders between my medicated shampoo, are there any other unmediated shampoos I can use
4) I currently use dovobet on my chest and back it does clear it but it comes back the next day and the doctor tells me there is no other ointment as I've tried everything, are there other creams ?

Thankyou

[Hanna]

Hi, sorry to hear things are bad for you at the mo.
It's so disheartening when u see spots join together :-( try not to stress, here's my advice for you

Often with seasonal changes psoriasis can flare...mine is doing this currently.

DON'T de-flake where possible as you can damage the skin underneather and this can make psoriasis worse, more so if you have the kenobar (bad spelling) after ... Basicly a cut that turns to psoriasis.

DON'T use johnsons, I know the stuff is meant for babies but its extremely drying I haven't even used it in my baby!!! Try head and shoulders menthol if you want to avoid medicated shampoos.

Use any steroid creams sparingly dovobet is very strong


Also search around the forum for lots of advice

Must dash now due to baby being a pickle xxxx

[Fred]

1) the flakes of dry skin I often pick off is this the right or wrong thing to do, could this be why it's scaring?
2) any advice to remove or treat the scars
3) I was advices to use Johnsons shampoo and head and shoulders between my medicated shampoo, are there any other unmediated shampoos I can use
4) I currently use dovobet on my chest and back it does clear it but it comes back the next day and the doctor tells me there is no other ointment as I've tried everything, are there other creams ?

#1 It's not the best thing to do, but it shouldn't make it worse. And we all do it, and it can become addictive. I used to try and see how big I could get a flake off in one piece, and I still go to where I used to have them

#2 They are not scares as such, it's more the change in pigment colour. They can fade over time but there is nothing that will actually remove them, apart from getting the flakes down and then getting a nice sun tan.

#3 I can't help you there as I don't have much hair hopefuly someone else will! But for the moment try the search button in the menu bar.

#4 It's difficult to find the right thing that works. when you say you have tried all ointments, have you tried Dovonex? it's not so strong as Dovobet but I found it worked better for me. If you have tried all the creams and ointments then it's time to get yourself and appointment with a dermatologist, ask your doctor to refer you to one.

Hope that helps a bit, and hopefuly others will chip in.

[KLBolton]

Thankyou for all of your advice it is much appreciated and nice to have advice from people who I can actually talk to instead of googling things all of the time.

Regarding shampoo thankyou for informing me about Johnsons as it was my doctor who told me to use it, and regarding head and shoulders I will certainly try menthol. Out of curiosity have you mixed medicated shampoo as my doctor told me not to but from the two comments I feel my doctor knows nothing of psoriasis.

Thankyou for advising so quick it seems unreal how kind and understanding you are

[Fred]

As you will see we are all different. Hanna says picking psoriasis makes it worse, but I have never found that myself. Hence it's difficult for a GP to help you and a lot of GPs don't always understand psoriasis, so like I said it's time to tell your GP to refer you to a dermatologist. They will be able to work with you to find what is the best treatment that suits you.