psoriasis advice

[hamkin]

My DH has recently been diagnosed with psoriasis. He has lots of small patches on his chest and back and a few on his legs. He has not had this condition since a very stressful time during his late teens.

He has been diagnosed a steroid cream. I was wondering if there was any advice of possible side effects of using this? If so, are there any other treatments you can suggest? He also has a few patches in his hair.

Is psoriasis always stress related? There is no family history of it.

if its lots of small patches then it could be guttate psoriasis - worth googling images. If it is then attacks can be provoked by infections - particularly throat infections or strep. Sometimes antibiotics can help.

Steroid use is fine if used carefully and for short periods of time. My derm told me its the best cream for loads and loads of little patches as other creams can irritate normal skin and as you'll have found out its tricky to apply cream accurately to so many patches.

If it doesnt shift it and its bad then he may be eligible for uv treatment at the hosp.

hope it gets better soon.

A good treatment for psoriasis on the scalp is olive oil and baby shampoo. A nurse at work told me to massage olive oil into my scalp in the evening for 4 days and in the mornings to wash my hair with baby shampoo. It cleared my scalp completely and now I maintain it with olive oil once a week and only wash my hair with baby shampoo. The oil also cleared the patches on my forehead.

Prior to that I had been told to use Nizoral which burned my scalp and forehead as did T-gel.

second use of natural (not mineral) oil for prevention/moisture.

Olive oil or sesame oil work best for me. Keep a bottle in the shower and apply EVERYDAY after shower - on damp skin for maximum penetration- a few drops of lavender essential oil are fine to mask strong smell and act as soothing mildly antibacterial.

Also agree scalp treatment. Mild baby shampoo much better than any tar treatment I used.