Ignore the Urge to Ignore

“Oh, so now I’m invisible to you? That’s cool. I’ve always wanted a superpower”-Unknown

I saw the above quote on a meme this week and laughed out loud. It was so relateable! And not just because I’m a total superhero nerd. It’s because ignoring becomes a huge part of your life with psoriasis. Either you are ignoring your disease or other people are ignoring you because of your disease.

Ignoring Your Disease

If there was a prize for disregarding an important health concern, I would FOR SURE have a line of trophies to show. For a decade I was of the mindset: if you ignore it, it will go away. I know, I know—cue the eyeroll. I’m one of those stereotypical guys. I hated going to the doctor and it was just a skin thing, right?

Wrong. I was wrong. It’s like my ignorant ignoring of it made it angry and it decided to show me just how extensive it could really be. Have you ever heard the analogy about turning a ship around? Well, my oldest son is currently obsessed with the Titanic, so I have been learning all kinds of exciting things about boats. One thing that stuck out to me is that it is hard to turn a boat around that is going full speed in the opposite direction. Had I taken care of my psoriasis when it was a few guttate patches here and there, I would probably have saved myself a lot of time, money and heartbreak. But instead, by ignoring each new patch that popped up, I found myself covered over 80 percent, which is much harder to take care of.

Being Ignored

The only thing worse than ignoring your disease is being ignored because of it. Have you ever met someone, and you can see them purposely trying to avoid looking at your skin? They will either stare intensely into your eyes or look right past you. It makes me instantly self-conscious. The funny thing is that I’m so used to ignoring my own skin, that often times I will think I have spinach in my teeth or chocolate ice cream on my face (balance) and not realize immediately that they are freaked out by the oozing red spots.

On the other hand, some people will avoid approaching me all together. They most likely spotted me early on and convinced themselves I must have some communicable disease. As a self-proclaimed helicopter dad, I get it. We have to be cautious in a time when a growing number of people are choosing to not vaccinate, and scary old-time disease comebacks make the nightly news. That being said, it still hurts to be thought of as an untouchable and I always want to scream “I’M NOT CONTAGIOUS! I DON’T LIKE LOOKING AT IT EITHER!”

I wish that the above quote was true and that we obtained superpowers when we were ignored, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Ignoring, whether it be from ourselves or from others, is painful. So, remember to ignore the urge to ignore.