5 Strange Things I've Done Due to Psoriasis

If you have psoriasis there are probably some unique things you've done to hide your psoriasis from other people. I have had this disease for over 20 years and up until 6 years ago I did absolutely everything I possibly could to hide it from others. Looking back some of this stuff truly was silly, but was what made me feel comfortable while having this disease. Take a look at the 5 strange things I did due to my psoriasis and then share some of your oddest attempts to cover up your disease.

I wore 4 pairs of flesh tone stockings at one time...

I love to dress cute, but I dislike the limitations to dress cute with psoriasis. At this particular time, I was very ashamed of my disease and would attempt to hide it at all cost. I love wearing skirts and dresses, but I didn't feel comfortable enough to do so without covering up my legs in some way. As a way to camouflage my psoriasis, I wore stockings, but one pair normally wouldn't hide my spots well enough, you could still see them if I only wore one pair of stockings. To solve this issue I would wear up to 4 pair of stockings, the more I layered the better it masked the plaques. Only a few of my friends knew of this method and thought that it was crazy, especially in the summer time. I was hot, but I was just glad I could wear what I wanted without exposing my disease.

Wore a full body of clothes to the swim park

People with psoriasis often share stories of avoiding certain social situations or activities that require them to show their skin due to the fear of what those around them will think. Although I can relate, I would try to do the activity but in the most comfortable way I could. In this particular instance I was around the age of 13/14 and I was invited to the water park. I really wanted to go but I didn't want to wear a swimsuit. I went with my friends to that water park in a long black maxi dress, a thin fancy sparkly top with bell bottom sleeves, and flip flops. I remember one of the lifeguards asking why I had so many clothes on. I probably looked more silly with all those clothes on at the water park opposed to just showing off my spots with a swim suit.

Dressing room blues

I actually still practice this method. When you try on clothes in a dressing room at a department store in most cases the door does not go all the way down to the floor. Therefore people can see your legs at the bottom of the dressing room. To avoid someone from seeing my spotted legs, I don't remove my leg pants off one at a time. Basically, I lift one leg up, take off my current pants leg, I slide on the first pants leg before I place my leg down, then I do this method to the next leg.

Sex in the dark

When I first met my now ex-husband he made me feel very comfortable with my disease. Once we got to know each other and decided to become intimate, he had never seen my body in the light. I was so terrified about what he would think of my disease the only time I was willing to have sex was in the dark. To me this is strange because why did I feel comfortable enough to have sex with someone that I wasn't comfortable enough with to show my body to. My fear had nothing to do with him but was due to my own insecurities.

Occlusion

As a teenager, I had the opportunity to try a treatment that isn't as common among psoriasis patients, and it was called occlusion. Basically, I would stay in the hospital 3 weeks at a time for this treatment at least once to twice a year. The nurse would rub me down in tar, I would put on pajamas, the nurse would wet the pajamas with water. Next, I had to put on a plastic suit which looks similar to those suits people run in when trying to lose a lot of weight. I sat in this suit for 8 hrs a day and it was also accompanied by phototherapy.