Psoriasis and the New Year

I cannot believe are already in the new year. It feels like 2023 flew by. It felt like yesterday when I was looking at myself, thinking of my psoriasis, and wondering how it will flare this year. Now we are almost a week into 2024 where things can change once again.

Let me quickly reflect on 2023 and my psoriasis. Overall, this year has been pretty good for my patches. I’ve had some, which I’ve written about, but they haven’t been too burdensome. They flare in places and then disappear in others. Some come back after a few months, while others go and leave me alone.

My psoriasis treatments have been working

Psoriasis is a life-long autoimmune ailment. It will never truly go away, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be treated or managed.

This past year, I have been using my Skyrizi injection which has worked wonders. It’s helped keep most of my patches at bay. It’s really easy to administer too, so it doesn’t leave my home messy and untidy.

I moisturize, too. The combination of my Skyrizi, coconut oil for my scalp and moisturizer has really helped. I was offered other treatments but have decided against that, as even though I have some small stubborn patches, I don’t want to experience any rebound effects or make my patches flare later down the line.

It's going to be a great year

So how do I see 2024 now 2023 has ended? I can feel that 2024 is going to be a great year for my condition. I plan to continue with my treatment plan and with a positive attitude things should fall into place.

Will there be struggles? Yes. But I will weather them much better than I have previously and remind myself of how far I have come in the process.

Will I try other treatments? Only if they’re natural products. For now, I don’t want to use anything other than my Skyrizi injection and moisturizer for my body and my coconut oil for my scalp. I have found this has greatly reduced my lesions so I don’t want to put that in jeopardy.

Feeling hopeful about the new year

With the UK now being in winter, I have noticed a bit of skin irritation in places, so I apply my moisturizer and it appears to be working. Some dry skin is healing in places and the situation doesn’t look to be worsening.

I asked my friends how they feel about 2024 when it comes to their psoriasis. Most, like me, were generally happy with the treatments they are on but some felt there could be improvements. Some said about natural treatments, a bit how I feel. There’s nothing wrong with treatments offered by medical teams and I wouldn’t want to put anyone off, but for me personally, because I have been through so many of them, I would rather stick to what I know works rather than risk my patches getting worse at some other point.

So how do you feel about the New Year? Are you excited about 2024 and what it means for your psoriasis? Perhaps you have a dermatology appointment booked in? Fingers crossed you feel hopeful as we enter a new chapter in our skin journey.