I’ve learned quite a lot about the products targeted at the Psoriasis sufferers. Every product offers the user something, either relief from the cracked flakey skin, the itch and burn, the dry and painful patches and the sleepless nights as your skin feels like a thousand ants crawling over it.
Most of these products are the real thing, but be wary of products offering to clear your Psoriasis, they are utterly false and should be avoided at all costs…… and it will cost you….. I know, I’ve bought the snake oil, only to find out its oil…….with no cure…..Remember if there is a cure, there will be a landslide of 125 million people queuing up to get it……. you will know about it and so will I.
So lets focus on what we do know and lets get those facts out to everyone who wants to be informed…
As a Psoriasis sufferer, we spend vast sums of money on different creams, only to give up and go back to simple Silcocks Base or a giant pot of E45…. however here is where we need to get real…
The biggest lies are the ones we tell ourselves……..
It’s a take on Richard Bach’s quote, but it’s so true.
And the biggest lies are false expectations or a lack of understanding, as we make mistakes with these products and fail to achieve results, then leave lame reviews because of something we don’t understand or do wrong….. So here are some mistakes I have learned.
Mistake 1. Not applying your creams to your skin at least 2-3 times daily. I have for years fooled myself into thinking I was caring for my Psoriasis, as I rubbed in some Silcocks Base after the morning shower then waiting 24 hours till the next shower to apply some more.
Applying a product once a day is a waste of time. So you need to figure out how you can give your skin 30 minutes a day, broken into 3 x 10 minute sessions. I now spend 10 minutes before breakfast, again during lunch and again in the evening (and if I’m particularly bad I may apply again just before sleep).
I can now say that my cracked skin is gone, my itch is not so bad and while the scales and plaques are still occurring, the pain level and irritation level has dropped by simply giving it the time it needs.
Mistake 2. Not understanding the difference between a moisturiser or treatment cream. E45 moisturiser and E45 Cream are not the same product. If you are only applying moisturiser, your are not treating your Psoriasis, your moisturising it……..
let that thought sink in………………….. do you see it……
moisturiser is exactly that, a hydrating product…. it cannot cure or aid in any therapeutic improvement of Psoriasis. I have spent years moisturising my Psoriasis, in the vain and deluded thought that it would somehow improve the condition……. funny how it only got worse……
therapeutic
related to the healing of disease – a treatment, therapy or drug
As outlined above, I was not including a “treatment” cream in my Psoriasis care, therefore I was getting nowhere.
There are products that have both moisturising and treatment properties, so it’s important to know what your using.
I started using a new treatment cream three weeks ago. (Late August 21). The reviews on Amazon were filled with 1 and 2 star reviews that were making the same mistake. Expecting the treatment to be a moisturiser. Treatment creams are not moisturisers and a moisturiser is not a therapy, unless it says it “explicitly on the product”.
Treatment lotions, or creams are therapeutics, that help with either an antibacterial component, an itch relief, a reduction in plaque formation, or normalisation of skin production (or a combination).
I’ve added Dermalex – Psoriasis Treatment Cream as part of my daily treatment and in the short few weeks using the product, I am seeing a reduction in itching, on some patches, a reduction in plaque formation on other patches and the normalisation of skin production on some spots, which brings me to the next mistake,
Mistake 3. The skin on your knee or elbow is different to your thighs, and the cheeks of your bum are more like your face. So the same product works differently or at different rates, on different parts of your skin. You have to experiment with treatments and if you see any result on any part of your skin then there is value in working on it.
I actually have several Treatment creams, queued up to try out and I did initially try to treat different patches with different creams, but if I want facts, then I need to commit to one product at a time, to learn their effects.
I am using Dermalex Psoriasis for the majority of my skin, however for sensitive areas (I did say on the home page, I have Psoriasis in places I don’t wish to say) I am also using Emuaid Max, as it also has an antiseptic property with TeeTree oil.
So experiment, try a few treatment creams. if one does not show any result, try another and another. I’ll blog and let you all know how its going overt time and in the gallery I will share progress pictures every few months.
Mistake 4. Thinking that a sting is a bad reaction. We think it’s a reaction, when in-fact it’s a sign it’s working. The sting is the inflamed Psoriasis patch reacting to the treatment. A bad reaction is if your skin goes bright red and relief only occurs after you wash the affected area. I have put several creams ontop of each other and had a bad reaction that required me to wash the creams off my skin. So don’t get worried about a sting, it should subside in 5 minutes or less.
Mistake 5. Salt water is bad…. nope…. its actually brilliant, you just have to shower and moisturise after being in the sea, as it drys your skin out. Trips to the Dead Sea have long been associated with a heathy routine for Psoriasis treatment. Icelandic sulphur baths and trips to the Blue Lagoon have also been shown to be benefitial.
Mistake 6. Giving up too early and not committing to a treatment. I think many Dr’s are to blame here. They prescribe topical steroids for two weeks and expect results. Psoriasis did not appear in two weeks it developed over years and it will not go away quickly. I’ve researched this (and I’ll share that research in the future) and it can take anything from 6 to 12 weeks of treatment to see any result. Why, simply because we are not perfect, we will miss a patch, or skip a treatment as life gets in the way and skin cells take between 20 – 40 days to get replaced, depending on your age (longer as you get older) so it takes a while to see results.
A few points on moisturiser – they are not all the same – they don’t all do the same job.
Some are quick drying and loose the moisture effect quickly, some are greasy and feel slippery and again don’t do a great job of actually moisturising the skin. So pay attention to the product your using, try a few at a time and try to see what helps you best. Everyone is different, has different skin, and what works for me, may or may not work for you.
Good moisturisers
I put links for all of these in my first blog post and will build a page with better descriptions soon..
- E45 moisturiser – This is my quick fix, when I don’t have the time to moisturise for 10 minutes. This is a good, apply, rub in and your done in 60 seconds. Problem is in an hour you’ll need more, unless you spend time and apply a lot.
- Double base – This is the daily moisturiser, applied after treatment creams or in-between the day skin routine. It simply works, it’s a very effective moisturiser for all parts of my skin.
Psoriasis health 