Partners and Psoriasis

I was married at 21 and developed my first serious outbreak at 22 after mainly mild patches that were easily controlled in the preceding years. We have 3 surviving daughters and 5 grandchildren, who apart from the pesky hay fever I have passed on, have not suffered any skin problems. I am now well into my 70's and although still suffer with P my much loved wife is always by my side and our marriage is as strong as it was on day one. My opinion is probably not what you want to read, but if this man is struggling now, then he is not the one to spend the rest of your days with. To love someone completely means accepting them unconditionally for who they are and not what you want them to be, standing by their side through rough as well as smooth AND supporting them as life unfolds no matter what troubles life throws at each other.

Psoriasis and I met after the birth of my first child in 1983, I had a second child in 1985 and it is after her birth that psoriasis and me really became acquainted, my condition has gradually increased over the years and this has enabled me to accept and live/deal with psoriasis. I have been married to the same person for over 41 years and we have 2 grandchildren, all my family accept my condition as it is part of me, they are very supportive and accept me for who I am, scales and all ! Just to add, I have today watched the association's video 'the skin I'm in' - I congratulate all who created this powerful message, I absolutely love it as I can relate to it all, I think it should be shown at cinemas to raise awareness before the cinema goers settle down to watch their chosen film - thank you so much for creating this video, the choice of accompanying music is brilliant!

I have had psoriasis since I was 21 (am 59 now) and luckily it wasn't too bad in our early married life. After the birth of our third child my psoriasis gradually got worse which coincided with a drop off and then complete end to our sex life, a coincidence maybe but it caused me a great deal of distress. We are still together and luckily my sex drive has now also reduced but I still feel I have missed out over the last 15+ years. If I am honest I don't think I would want to get intimate with someone whose body looks like mine! Not much help I know your partner is in a very difficult position, try not to be too hard on him if he decides he can't handle it.

Hey I met my boyfriend when I was 12, and only developed a small patch of psoriasis on my scalp when I was 14 at this point we were just friends and he didn't know about it, when I was 15 me and him started to hang out a lot more and became quite close and January 2016 was when I really noticed id lost a lot of my hair due to it falling out because more than half my scalp was covered, then me and him ended up together April last year and by September that year my full body was covered in Psoarisis! We are young I know but I'm 17 soon and honestly couldn't have got through this last year without him! I'd find it impossible to be with someone who wasn't completely supportive, he's watched all the good things about my personality fade away and he's still always there for me, I've also put on a lot of weight since it got really bad as I stress eat and tend not to leave the house a lot and I still have him by my side even I'm shocked because we are so young and where I'm from I feel like he's one of the only good ones left! But I do understand how much your confidence goes mine does too but if I he didn't respect how I feel about my condition then I wouldn't be with him, people might be affected by it but at the end of the day there opinion shouldn't matter as they don't get how hard it is to actually live with it! I hope things get better for you all the best x

Jodie, you have a real saver there and I hope your relationship stays very close for as long as you want it too. That's what love is all about; loving someone no matter what and accepting them for what and who they are as nothing else matters. As the old saying goes, true love will survive anything.

Thank you! I do too, your right love doesn't always come with the good stuff but it's about going forward with it together.