So after a week of ensuring that I moisturise and treat each patch of Psoriasis, there are tangible results…
The observations :
Significant reduction of inflammation – You can see the roaring red colour on the first image and how much paler it is on the second image.
Large reduction of plaque development, I was shedding large sheets of plaques from that patch. Notably less than 50% of the patch is now showing plaque formation.
There is very little itch or irritation on the patch.
Hair growth has returned. Yes there are some hairs on the first image, but a lot more on the second one. So for this guy, that’s good news as its a sign of heath returning to my skin.
Its about two weeks between images. This is a result.
Ok so what have I been doing?
- It all starts with the shower and there are a few things that can help your day.
- I’ve found that some soaps for Psoriasis actually irritate it very badly. I used to use Oilatum Soap, but I have found that Simple Soap is less irritating and its also half the price.
- Whats important is to take the time to really rinse the soap off your body. Take your time doing this so that there is no soap residue on your skin. When I say rinse, I don’t mean simply wash down any foam, I mean properly rinse off all your affected skin. Soap leaves a residue and this residue can contribute to irritation and slow down drying.
- When drying, take it slowly again, don’t rub your skin vigorously, take it easy and slowly rub the towel across your skin. Your skin should be almost dry but not completely as you need a bit of moisture on your skin, prior to adding a treatment.
Before even mentioning any treatment, you can see that taking your time to clean, rinse and dry your skin is just as important in your self-healing routine. Sometimes we don’t pay attention to the obvious.
- So the next choice is, am I moisturising or applying a treatment?
- I’ll try to apply a treatment after a shower, as that’s the time the skin is free from anything.
- I start with applying Grahams Psoriasis treatment to my upper arms, elbows and forearms and any other areas on hands that have Psoriasis patches. The treatment has a slightly pungent smell, but it goes on easily and drys in quickly. It also does not need to be moisturised (while it does leave the skin dry, its working well and irritation is greatly reduce), there is a mild sting with it, which fades in a few minutes.
- I then apply Dermalex Psoriasis treatment to the rest of my body, where required. This treatment has no smell, its quite grainy and drys in quickly, but it’s also very dry and rough on the skin. Its definitely has no moisturising properties and it can sting for a reasonable duration (hours in some cases), so try it out on different areas. I could not handle the sting on the upper arms and arms in general (hence I’m using two treatments). Where as the skin on my thighs, feet, shins and calfs are not as sensitive and can take the treatment quite well.
- Again, going back to the Creams and Mistakes page I listed on the site, you need to find out if the treatment works for different areas of skin.
- I apply a light moisturiser over the Dermalex, to ease the sting but I cannot avoid the fact that Dermalex is working and I need to stick with it.
- Following on from the treatment, I get dressed and off I go for the day.
- If the shower was in the morning, I will then take the time to apply moisturiser at lunch and again in the evening.
- If the shower is in the afternoon, I start the day with a moisturising session, then treatment after the shower and then an evening moisturising session.
- I have only missed one day in the last few weeks as I was on a Day Hike, but I moisturised heavily at the start of the day.
“If at first you don’t succeed try, try and try again.” Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland, is meant to have told his troops this shortly before walloping the English at Bannockburn in 1314
Robert the Bruce
So there you have it… the mistakes were the reason why I was not getting any relief. I was not committing to the necessary actions to see results.
Psoriasis health 