People who claim to have eczema or psoriasis

[wishfulthoughts3]

…. Who have self diagnosed it and actually simply have slightly dry or irritated skin??

i have psoriasis. My skin is continually sore and crusty. I’m under dermatology and am on a cocktail of treatments but it’s not even close to under control. I’ve had time off work, in hospital and I’ve spent hours crying in my room about my skin, both the pain of it and also how embarrassing it looks. People think it’s just a bit of dry skin and dandruff but it’s not at all like that. It’s agonising and debilitating not to mention embarrassing too.

and as well as the debilitating skin problems, psoriasis also attacks the joints which not many people know about. I’m in my 20s and there are times I can’t even walk because my knees are so riddled with psoriatic arthritis.

its an insidious disease which not many people realise is this bad.

so many people claim to have psoriasis or eczema when they simply have dry skin, and usually they then say things like ‘have you tried sudocrem??? Or have you tried using moisturiser??’ Nah, I didn’t try that, I skipped straight to the immunosuppressive drugs. it’s so patronising and slightly insulting- I have other health conditions and nobody has ever tried to recommend treatments as much as people do with psoriasis and eczema. It’s as if because it’s visible it’s a fair game for people to give unwanted and frankly useless suggestions. You wouldn’t catch most people self diagnosing with other conditions like they do work psoriasis and eczema

I don’t think people fully understand what it is. Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition. Yes, some people will have it milder than others. But it’s slightly insulting when people just casually self diagnosis the slightest bit of dry skin as psoriasis. I don’t have eczema so I have no personal experience of it but I imagine it’s the same with people incorrectly saying they have it and suggesting miracle cures for it.

maybe I’m just a bit grumpy tonight (happy to accept I am) because I’m in pain and miserable, but just wondering, does anyone else with psoriasis or eczema feel the way I do?

I've had psoriasis all my life and at the moment I'm mainly in remission with very little patches. My brother however had 90% coverage and had to be put on injections for his. The specialist told him that it's far more common for people to have mild psoriasis than for it to be severe. I've never been anywhere near as bad.
So people not understanding what you go through doesn't mean they don't have psoriasis. Their presentation of the disease is just mild and topical management is enough.