Psoriasis: The Little Pinkish-Red Patch that Could (Part 1 of 6— Story)

But wish it wouldn’t…

7 min readJul 6, 2023

A curious sign on my chest resides,
In pinkish-red, it stays and does confide,
What secrets does it keep, what tales it hides?
This little patch, with its scaly tide.
Persistent as a summer’s stubborn day,
No swat nor swish could brush it away.
Oh, it may seem to be a mark astray,
Yet, in my skin, it firmly chooses to lay.
Once a stranger, now a constant friend,
I ponder on the purpose it intends,
From a decade past, to this present end,
Will it remain, or on time depend?
Yet in my reflection’s quiet wit, “Is it here to stay?”
I gently submit.

…or do I?

I will write a 6-part series about my journey to cure my psoriasis. This is part 1.

2 of 6 — Psoriasis: The Problems it Causes
3 of 6 — Psoriasis: The Long List of Purported, Maybe, Cures
4 of 6 — Psoriasis: What I’ve Tried to Cure It
5 of 6 — Psoriasis: Still Uncured, My Next Steps
6 of 6 — Psoriasis: And the Related Wellness Debate

I retain the liberty to publish some one-offs, both after, and in between, as well.

Psoriasis: The Story

A pinkish-red patch.

A curious little-scaly-slightly-itchy-slightly-raised-pinkish-red patch.

What is it? And what does it want? And why is it on my chest?

I wish it were temporary, like a fly that I could swat away. But it is not. It is stubborn, and it is now part of my skin.

What I am describing is what I would later learn is called Psoriasis.

Even that is difficult to confirm. It is another skin condition called eczema? Or another skin condition yet, called seborrheic dermatitis? I would also later learn of the cost to figuring out that information.

Here is what the Mayo Clinic has to say about Psoriasis:

Psoriasis is a skin disease that causes a rash with itchy, scaly patches, most commonly on the knees, elbows, trunk and scalp.
Psoriasis is a common, long-term (chronic) disease with no cure. It can be painful, interfere with sleep and make it hard to concentrate. The condition tends to go through cycles, flaring for a few weeks or months, then subsiding for a while. Common triggers in people with a genetic predisposition to psoriasis include infections, cuts or burns, and certain medications.

For reference, here is what the Mayo Clinic has to say about eczema:

Atopic dermatitis (eczema) is a condition that causes dry, itchy and inflamed skin. It’s common in young children but can occur at any age. Atopic dermatitis is long lasting (chronic) and tends to flare sometimes. It can be irritating but it’s not contagious.
People with atopic dermatitis are at risk of developing food allergies, hay fever and asthma.

…and seborrheic dermatitis:

Seborrheic (seb-o-REE-ik) dermatitis is a common skin condition that mainly affects your scalp. It causes scaly patches, inflamed skin and stubborn dandruff. It usually affects oily areas of the body, such as the face, sides of the nose, eyebrows, ears, eyelids and chest. This condition can be irritating but it’s not contagious, and it doesn’t cause permanent hair loss.
Seborrheic dermatitis may go away without treatment. Or you may need to use medicated shampoo or other products long term to clear up symptoms and prevent flare-ups.
Seborrheic dermatitis is also called dandruff, seborrheic eczema and seborrheic psoriasis.

Right off the bat, I must say: This is all so very confusing, isn’t it?

Back to the Story

I am a man with sensitive skin. As a teenager, I suffered from some moderate to severe acne. I am elated to say that I’d eventually grow out of it. What was helpful, too, was what I’d later learn is called “an elimination diet.”

As an active teen, I’d come inside from a day of play (say, basketball) and binge eat chocolate chips. Semi-sweet chocolate morsels, the bag called them. And I did this so often that I didn’t know what life as a teen was like without them.

When I went away to college, the default stock of food is just — whatever was in the dining hall. I broke my habit of of binge-eating chocolate chips. And I noticed that my skin cleared up.

I returned home from college, and indulged in the “comfort food” — yes, including going back to binge-eating chocolate chips. And the acne came back, full force. Back to school? The acne was gone. And note: I was active enough, this habit didn’t make me fat. But I suppose this sequence of events led me to discover: Some ingredient or combination of ingredients in the chocolate chips led to another flair up. It was brand agnostic — ALL chocolate chips that I had tried led to the flair up.

But before any chocoholics get too worried, the story is not so bad. While I Did not learn about this connection until I cold-turkey-cut-out chocolate from my diet, I was also able to re-introduce chocolate to my diet without any negative side effect to my skin. Just that it had to be in limited “doses.” I could eat a bit of chocolate. I just couldn’t binge eat a half of a 16 oz bag of them. And both my skin and my belly would remain happy.

But these red, scaly patches. The psoriasis. What about that? I solved the acne from ages 13–21 by cutting out chocolate (mostly) from my diet. But from age 22+, when my psoriasis first arrived, and slowly, gruelingly slowly, kept spreading, I have yet to find a solution.

Note to self: Why don’t you go back to binge eating chocolate and see if it solved your issue?!

I am now a male between the age of 30–40.

At roughly age 22, I saw a curious pink, scaly patch welcome itself to my body. It was oval in shape, about 1 cm thick.

It was slightly itchy. But more than anything else, it was an eyesore. I didn’t like it, so I went to the dermatologist.

It was diagnosed as psoriasis.

I was prescribed some steroid to treat it. The steroid worked moderately well, but the patch never went away. There is also a downside (or ten) to using a steroid to treat a chronic medical condition. I won’t get into them, but perhaps it is already intuitive as to why.

Over the following few years, the size of the initial patch stayed stable, but more popped up around my body. About 3 more of (luckily) slightly smaller size.

I returned to the dermatologist to see what can be done. There was some surprise that the steroid did not work better. So I agreed to a biopsy of the initial patch to be sure what it is. A chemical was applied to the skin, and a tiny (3mm) skin sample was taken from the patch.

Over the following month, the patch which had previously been stable in size ballooned to 5x the size — the size which it has stayed ever since.

Here is the full progression of psoriasis spots around my body since 2010:

Scalp (like dandruff)
Armpits — Note that there was a neon-blue colored Old Spice deoderant I was using at the time that seemed to set it off. The deoderant would sting when I applied it and the patched grew to significant size during this time.
Chest (left pec) ←This is the first time I was compelled to research psoriasis. The scalp I thought was just generic dandruff (whatever that is). And the armpits I thought was a sensitivity to the chemicals in the highly artifical Old Spice deoderant.
Chest (right pec)
Neck Patch
Groin
Upper back
Lower back
Eyebrows
Ears
Side of nose
Elbow

I’ve returned to the dermatologist. And predictably was prescribed a drug that I inject into my body that at full price costs $20,000 per dose. The dermatologist excitedly tells me that the pharmaceutical company will “work with me” and somehow get the cost-to-me down to $20-$50 per dose. I just am not overly interested in partaking in such confusing economics. And I don’t want to be int he habit of injecting myself to cure a skin issue that is worsened by damaged skin. What is to say that I won’t develop a new psoriasis patch in the injection site? It just seems stupid to go down this path. What else is this drug doing to my body?

What’s Next?