First Symptoms of Psoriasis: Why Is My Navel Red?

When I was a teenager my bellybutton or navel would get red in color. I always attributed it to my blue jean button rubbing against it to make it red or irritated. Mind you this was long before my diagnosis of psoriasis.

The first symptoms of psoriasis

My first breakout from psoriasis did not start until I was thirty-three. It started on my left leg. Year after year passed my psoriasis kept spreading until I was covered in over eighty percent of my body. There was much I needed to learn about psoriasis at that time.

Now sixteen years into this dreaded disease and volunteering with the National Psoriasis Foundation I have learned much more about the condition. However, it wasn't until this past week that it dawned on me that I did not know as much as I thought. I bet after you read this article you will probably think the same thing.

Different types of psoriasis have different symptoms

One of the first things I learned about psoriasis is that there are different types of psoriasis. My psoriasis started out as plaque psoriasis. It was the plaques that had spread to almost every inch of my body. At that point, I wasn't even concerned about learning anything else about psoriasis except for how I could treat plaque psoriasis.

It wasn't until about five years ago that I started having symptoms of inverse psoriasis. In case you didn't know, it is possible to have more than one type of psoriasis. In fact, there are five different types of psoriasis but usually, someone does not have all five types. I digress.

It wasn't until I developed inverse psoriasis that I even found this information out. As I like to say psoriasis is just that gift that keeps on giving, whether you like it or not.

Inverse psoriasis symptoms

When my inverse psoriasis first started it presented under my breast. I did not even know what inverse was. Yes, I knew it was a form of psoriasis but until it started affecting my body, I was uneducated on what parts of the body inverse can affect.

Just in case anyone is reading this and doesn't know about inverse psoriasis. This type of psoriasis affects the folds of the skin, your armpits and your naval. Can you already see that light bulb moment go off in my head yet? Did my first sentence or two of this story give you any clue?

My light bulb moment brought me back to my navel

I bet you went back to read what I stated in my opening sentences. Yes? Learning about inverse psoriasis when it first started under my breast did not bring that light bulb moment.

It was not until the past two weeks while my inverse psoriasis has been flaring that it finally dawned on me. One of the main spots of the flare is in my navel. Are you putting two and two together now?

Adding years to my psoriasis symptoms

My first experience with having psoriasis really started as inverse instead of plaque psoriasis. That brings me to the unreal realization that I have had psoriasis for a lot longer than sixteen years. All those times I thought my jean button was causing my naval to get red was just untrue. It was inverse psoriasis.

Not that I would have known it back then because I knew nothing about psoriasis until the day I was diagnosed with the plaque. The doctor never asked where I had other spots that looked like my leg at the time. Though to be fair I would probably still not say naval because inverse looks way different from plaque psoriasis. It has more of a red slick surface. This truly means I have had psoriasis a lot longer than sixteen years as I thought initially.

Psoriasis advice

I tell everyone that is new to psoriasis to learn as much as you can about the condition. My knowledge of having inverse really did not come full circle until this new inverse flare.

Situations like this teach you it's not important which type came first. What is important is learning all you can about psoriasis.