Psoriasis - what can I do to help dd?

[GooseyLoosey]

Dd (9) developed psoriasis last year. It cleared up in the warmer weather but is now back with a vengeance. It is all over the tops of her feet, knees, wrists, elbows with random plaques in between.

She is getting comments from other children at gym and swimming. Not really mean ones, just what you would expect: "urghh - what's that?" type things. She is becomming really self concious and I am becoming adept at inconspicously covering up most of her to avoid this.

Please tell me there is a way to control this. She uses Dovonex (vitamin D cream) and a constantly changing selection of emollients. They stop the plaques from cracking and bleeding but do little else.

What can I do?

I can completely sympathise with your dd as the same thing happened to me at her age (I still have it now) and I agree it's not nice when other children keep questioning it. The best cream I use is called Diprosalic ointment, it's the only cream I've found that actually gets rid of it and quite quickly only thing is that it isn't the kindest of ointment for your skin. maybe try googling it and reading up on it first to see what you think, as I remember when I was young my mum being quite hesitant with me using it. Also another thing I've found works but does require commitment and time is asking your dr to refer your dd for phototherapy, again maybe google it but it is like standing in a sunbed for a very short period of time starting off as little as 30 secs (from what I can remember) about twice a week and build the time up each session, from what I can remember it doesn't have the dangers of a sunbed. Sorry that some of the information is a bit vague but I hope your dd finds something that works for her very soon.

Another vote for diprosalic ointment.

Only thing that clears it for me.

Thanks - she has seen a consultant dermatologist who says that she is too young and too fair skinned to use a light box - very high risk of skin cancer for her (think white blonde hair and translucently pale skin). Consultant said that for dd that was the very last resort.

No mention of diprosalic though (which I used for dermatitis many years ago). Only other thing they suggested was a coal tar based cream but I was reluctant to go down that route as it's a know carcinogen.

Will ask about the diprosalic next time I take her in.

Any other suggestions gratefully received.

Yeah agree with you not wanting to go for the light therapy especially it's her only being young. I think I used a coal tar shampoo for my scalp and I remember I stopped using it due to constantly smelling like fire!! Hope you manage to find something suitable for your daughter soon

So do I, I fee slightly desperate about it as I cannot actually make it better.

Any more suggestions - I am up for almost anything.

hi. I really know how it feels and this can have a knock on effect on all the family. both my son age 9 and 7 both have atopic eczema since they were babies but it has got worse by the years. The youngest son sees a dermatologist every six months but taking their advice eg frequent moisturising and the steroids creams I use to control their attacks has been non effective any more. each time he is been given a more potent steroids. his got terrible lichification on his knees, hands and elbows, that's the term meaning thick skin like the bark of a tree. emollients only softens the skin but al this stage nothing seems to help with the itch. its the itch that is a killer. he would scratch himself to sleep and I'll be sleeping in his bed holding his hands trying to ease his all over the body, ant crawling itch. so its like we only manage 5 hours sleep if lucky and we're all grumpy and irritable the next morning. im already dreading when it come tonight because it's the vicious cycle of sleep deprived that making me go bonkers. I'm not sure weather im doing half of the time. my son uses double base and dermol 500 as an emollient, maybe you could try those for your daughter. I also use Vaseline the' blue lid ' to keep his skin softer but like i said: its the itch that's driving him insane.

i do sympathise. Both my older dds have psoriasis. dd1 has never been too bad but dd2's was awful last spring and i took her to our GP. Fortunately we hit upon the GP who has an interest in dermatology and she has been brilliant. She prescribed diprobase plus some steriod based stuff but critically she also prescribed these You help dd apply the diprobase before bed or whatever then put these on. She can wear pjs over them but tbh dd just wore them. You need to wear them for a few days before washing to really get teh effect as the stuff sinks in to the fabric and back at the skin. It keeps the mosturiser very close to the skin. Try them - i think it may help.

Thanks both. Northern, I will see if I can get those.

I have no experience of psoriasis - I don't have it and no one in my family does. DH doesn't have it either.

I look at the other kids when I take her swimming, at their lovely clear skin and think "it's just not fair".

Has anyone tried changing their diet to deal with it as I have read that that has had some success for some people but does not seem to be something that is backed up by any medical science.

I've had it since I was little, severely at times. I was on a coal tar/dithranol/uv/steroid regime younger than your dd. I think you have to balance quality of life with risk in the future and even though I've had some fall out from the childhood regime I don't regret the choices my parents or doctors made for a second.

I did have a rough time from kids, but its actually made me really resilient. I don't actually care if people see my psoriasis, I don't cover it up. I am conscious of leaving flakes about (esp on my scalp) but emollients help a lot with that.

It's worth explaining other teacher exactly what psoriasis is and asking her to explain to the kids when your dd isn't there. I tell children that its because my skin grows too fast in places.

Watch out for throat infections, they can make it rapidly worse for some and early antibiotics can help to nip it in the bud if its a bacterial infection.

What I'm saying I guess is take it by day, don't worry about the future too much, do what you need to do now. Happy to talk by pm if you want to chat anything over.

Those skinnies look like the old stockinette I had to wear (but much better) never occlude (cover) steroid treated areas unless specifically instructed to by your derm.

The skinnies are really nice and soft. AND EFFECTIVE! I think we were so lucky to happen to get that GP who had specific advice and expertise.

OP - there are so many things which can help. It's just a case of trying the ones which are workable for you. Changing diet would be a pretty major one and I personally wouldn't go to that unless utterly desperate.

Bless u my dh has psoriasis and it really gets him down. What we have found to help him was a good multi vitamin and having a really healthy diet we notice an improvement (small but enough to make him feel better about himself) when he eats lots of berries strawberries blueberries blackberries r his faves this time of year we get the frozen berries and blitz them with yoghurt and he has it for breakfast. We also switched to using soap nuts from fairy (ds1 has eczema also) and have noticed a marked improvement in his skin. I think oilatum is supposed to b good for in the bath. Those skinnies look fab tho iv just sent him the link to have a look at. Cream wise it changes frequently as his skin seems to get used to them. Stress is the biggest problem for him if he's stressed his skin is terrible and of course the cold weather doesn't help at all. I'm sure I read somewhere that reflexology was supposed to be good too but dh wouldn't go lol.

Hope u find a solution for ur dd x

I second a previous poster throat infections make my dhs skin terrible bizarre that they seem to set it off. Also he takes migraines (unrelated issue) and used to take ibuprofen for them until gp told him ibuprofen can make psoriasis worse might b something to bear in mind as when he stopped using it his skin improved greatly

I have psioritic arthritis ans suffered for years and years with THE ITCH!
It made me crazy.
I have stopped eating wheat for the last 3 months and the itch has gone along with the debilitating tiredness and constant pain in my lower back.

It's bloody miserable as I love bread, (I am going to Glastonbury where one of the cafes serves and sells to takeaway the best cinnamon tea bread ever ) but I was near suicidal with the ITCH so can't risk it.

I have no medical qualifications at all, I can only offer sympathy and my personal experience.

Sorry for not getting back sooner - had to work. Anyone who suffers or has suffered from this has my utmost sympathy. I had no idea how hard it can be.

Earthy - it was wheat I was thinking of. Not keen though if it doesn't work as I think the whole family would need to get on board with it to support dd.

Kitten and Badmummy - knew psoriasis was an auto-immune problem but was completely unaware it could have an affect on throat viruses etc. Will definitely keep an out for that.

So far the itching seems to be largely under control. Hope it stays that way.

It had never really occurred to me to talk to the school and explain - but maybe I should. Most kids aren't mean just kids and come out with things like "ewhhh what's that?". It's enough though to make her self-conscious about it. For example, for gymnastics she prefers to wear a full body, long sleeved cat suit under her leotard (looks good actually).

She needs some practical answers to hand out to kids who ask. Most kids are satisfied with a factual answer.