Dudes Like to Accessorize Too!

If you asked my wife, she would say that my fashion sense is lacking. In fact, we always like to joke that it is amazing we ever got together because of it. One of the first times we saw each other after initially meeting was at her high school’s homecoming game. She loves to remind me how revolted she was that I was wearing a fire-engine-red half zip fleece pullover with “ugly-washed” tapered jeans, and New Balance shoes meant for the elderly (this coming from a girl decked out in high school superfan gear—pigtails, ribbons, and face paint galore!).

I’ll admit that it was an outfit more appropriate for a middle-aged soccer dad rather than an 18 year old guy, but in my defense, fleece feels really good on plaques! I am happy to report that my clothing choices have gradually improved in the last twelve years. You usually can find me rocking a graphic tee with straight legged jeans and some Nike kicks. But, even though I have branched out in my styling choices, there are still some fashionable items my skin refuses to let me wear.

Wrist watches

This is an accessory I have tried over and over again. I love the idea of watches! I can get one with my favorite college football team (Go Ducks!), or add a little professional touch to an outfit with a classic timepiece.

Unfortunately, I can only wear them for about one hour. Yep. One hour. By the end of those 60 minutes the skin underneath the watch band has become so inflamed and itchy, that any "cool" points I earned by wearing the watch have been deducted by the constant itching and leprosy-like skin peeking out from underneath. I thought it might have been from the metal backing, so I tried silicon watches, wood watches, hypoallergenic watches, and fitness watches, but alas, they all left my wrists red and puffy. Thank goodness for cell phones that tell time!

Belts

Similar to the watches, belt buckles make my psoriasis flare almost instantaneously. Unlike watches, however, I have to endure the annoyance so that my bare backside is not on display for the world to see (you’re welcome). Because of this, you can find the area under my belly button speckled with raised red dots against irritated skin on most days. This is also the one place that even when I am clear, I still have a phantom itch at. I’ll be the first to admit that if I had a six pack, my belly wouldn’t rub as much against that awful metal, but it wouldn’t be fair for me to have all this personality along with a killer bod!

Tattoos

Ok—I know it might be a stretch to call tattoos an accessory, but they definitely can make an appearance statement, so I am including them. I always have thought it would be pointless to get a tattoo, because my skin would just flake it off. Even though I really like the idea of a symbolic/meaningful tattoo, I figured it would be a waste of money if it didn’t last long. Later on, I found out that getting a tattoo, even where my skin was clear, could cause new psoriasis plaques to develop because of the Koebner Phenomenon (basically when your skin adds insult to injury by literally forming lesions where there is an injury to the skin). If I am being completely honest, I am already a big baby when it comes to getting my monthly biologic injections, so I probably would be too scared to get a tattoo anyways.