Outbreak from tanning bed
Posted Thu 7 Jun 2018 00.06 by Minnie
I've had plaque psoriasis since I was 4 and I'm now 37. I had them head to toe. As I got older they started to go away on their own. As an adult I was only left with spots on my knees and elbows and it would be years between a bad outbreak usually when I was really stressed. But for some reason durning all 4 pregnancy I didnt have one spot! So now I use the tanning bed only in spring / summer to heal my knees and elbows. This has worked the best for me and I only tan for 2 months or so because then I'm out in the natural sun and as soon as it gets cold I dont worry as much about it because I can hid it with long sleeves and pants. Ive alway used the same bed but I got a free bed upgrade to a bronzing bed and tried it out. Immediately after I tanned my body itched everywhere!!! By the next day I was covered in hundreds on small red bumps from my neck to my toes and the spots on my elbows and knees had doubled in size. Thank god I turn the face tanner off. My skin looked horrible!! There wasn't a place that didn't have a spot. I started googling as soon as I got home to see what it could be since my psoriasis has always been large sores with white patches and what I can tell from images and reading is that now I have guttate psoriasis. I stayed out of the tanning bed and natural sunlight for about a week. Then I started sitting in the sun for 10-15 minutes a day. They started to heal. After 3 days of that I went back to the tanning bed because I had them everywhere and the sun wasn't shining everywhere ;). It's been 6 days and it's such an improvement. I know there are side effect from treating psoriasis using a tanning bed but I haven't got insurance and 2 month fee to the tanning salon is cheaper than a dr. visit. I just wanted to share my experience with the bed meant to bronzes you because I had no idea it would cause me to breakout. Wish I had.
Posted Thu 7 Jun 2018 06.59 by OhNo_NotAgain?
Standard "tanning" beds, effectively burn your skin. Damaging your skin carries a high risk of triggering guttate proriasis or making existing psoriasis worse - as you have unfortunately discovered.
Posted Thu 7 Jun 2018 13.41 by Treez45
I feel for you! I have successfully had Light treatment at the hospital on previous attacks, and I have my own sunbed, which I have bought tubes that have a slightly higher UVB ratio, and are classed as a medical tube. They aren't as powerful as a hospital or shop sunbed tubes - they are only 100W. We moved house and I didn't have room to put up my sunbed, and hadn't had a significant break out in 7 years! Until April 2018. I was planning a trip for my partners 40th and wanted to get ahead of the sun so as not to burn - I thought Id have a sunbed. I used a shop vertical bed twice, the third time it wasn't available so used a lay down. I was horrified to discover I had burned the bottom of my back This hasn't ever happened before - so was really unhappy about it.
2 months or so ago, I had also had a chest infection that I hadn't considered to be "strep" - but after burning on the sunbed - out came my guttate psoriasis! Not complete coverage - my chest and shins are the worst affected areas, with minor breakouts across my back, arms and stomach.
I have "made" space for my bed at home and together with Dermovate and Doublebase for moisturiser my original spots are lightening up very quickly. I am 4 weeks in, and although I have had the odd few new spots appear in the last few days, it has slowed down dramatically.
I wish you lots of luck with your recovery x
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