Anyone on Skyrizi?

Thank you both - sorry to be a pain and ask one more question - when you first started the injection, how long before the psoriasis slowed down? What I mean by that is that I’m still having new patches appearing. Did you guys still have new patches appear for at least a little while after starting the injection before it stopped?

No worries. I understand the pain in waiting for the improvement to come. It took me roughly a month to start stopping from getting worse. After that time, patches are gradually disappear but it still took roughly another month to become obvious. In total, I can see an improvement to PASI90 after two months since the first injection. For nails, it takes much longer to get improved, it took me nearly a year or so before my nails are back to normal. I now still have one small patches on my left and right leg and some small patches in my forehead. Apart from that, other parts of my body are clear. I can live with these small patches compared to where I was. Everyone react differently, some may react slower than others but with better result and some are vice versa. Feel free to ask any questions if you still have any queries. :-)

I still got new patches for the first few weeks then started to notice improvement. I know this is scary and frustrating.

I am pretty much 100% clear now!

Sorry to ask another question - if you have continued using topicals during the first bit of the injection such as Enstilar - how did you know if the injection was working or if it was just the Enstilar?

To me, the outcome is very different. With Enstilar, my skin were still with very red patches. Once the Skyrizi kicks in, the pain and the itchiness from the psoraisis were largely reduced ans gradually gone.

I used my topicals for a week or so but they weren't really helping anyway (which is why i went on Skyrizi) so the difference was definitely the Skyrizi.

Hi Polar and Truban26: I am now 5 1/2 weeks into Skyrizi (1 1/2 weeks past my loading dose). I have started to see some minor improvements, with my scalp much better, however it is still very slow. My patches seem to be clearing slightly from the middle of them outwards (not sure if this is normal). When the medicaiton kicked in for you both, was it still a slow clearing/healing process? I saw my dermotologist today who has actually suggested using Enstilar at this point every day for the next 4 weeks to speed things up. My concern is the re-bound effect of stopping Enstilar (I know a lot of peoples psoriasis comes back worse). In your opinions, shall I just leave the injection to carry on doing its thing, or use the Ensitlar? Do you think that since the injection has potentially kicked in now, there should technically be no re-bound after stopping Enstilar? Sorry for the long one, appreciate you both!

I has results in a month after starting the injections. I will never offer medical advice as I am not a licensed medical provider however, if I were you, I would probably just give the Skyrizi some more time. It seems to be working and I get that instant gratification is something society has grown accustomed to in the digital world but sometimes thing just take longer than we want them to and we just have to be patient. It really hasn't been that long yet. Be patient! I'm sure it will all be ok!

Hi Truban26, thank you so much for that, I agree! How long from the moment you noticed the first sign of movement did it take before you were clear ish? I think the injection has now taken hold but I’m wondering how long the healing of your skin/fading process takes etc.

Like I said before, it took about a month for me to see results and by month 2, I was 99% clear. As far as fading process, everyone is different. I am pretty much clear of everything at this point.

I have a question for the group. Has anyone gone off Skyrizi during pregnancy and had success getting back on it? My boyfriend and I want kids but I am worried about messing with my medication and the consequences of going off of this drug. Thanks in advance!

I’ve had 2 pregnancies.. both times psoriasis significantly improved during pregnancy then came back with a vengeance after hence having to restart back on biologics.. but psoriasis seems to be quite minimal during pregnancy as I’ve heard the same from others!

I am more concerned about the risk of going off Skyrizi and trying to get back on it. Did you have a hard time going back on biologics? Did your body become immune to it?

For me the effect was the same after restarting no issues

Thanks for everyone's input around Skyrizi, I found it very helpful when I moved onto it earlier this year. To which end, I'd like to share my experience for the benefit of others. It's a long post, but I hope it's useful. I went onto Skyrizi in mid-June this year after a using systemics for a long time – over 20 years on Acitretin and a couple of years on Methotrexate when Acitretin began to stop working and a major flare-up happened. This was supplemented with Enstilar and Elocon as required, I was using Enstilar three or four times per week. I had begun to find Methotrexate a bit of a problem. For the psoriasis, it worked albeit never perfectly (I usually say it was a 7 /10, similar to Acitretin at its peak), but the side effects became intolerable. Amongst my 'co-morbidities' is type 2 diabetes, and in addition to what I will politely refer to as 'digestive trouble' – a recognised issue with Methotrexate - my GP agreed with my suspicion that it was affecting my blood glucose and making management of my diabetes more difficult. Skyrizi has been something of a delightful change on both counts. In short, it works and doesn't have troublesome side effects – well, not so far anyway! I have not used any topical treatments since starting with it, as I wanted to see that any effect was purely from Skyrizi. After the reading I had done, I wasn't particularly expecting a result quickly, but I began to experience an effect even within a few days of the first injection, particularly on my hands and around the hairline (forehead and backs of ears). By the time of the week 4 injection, there was a noticeable improvement to my back and shoulders, which had always been the worst areas for me. It was still a little rough across the shoulders until week 6 or so (early August). By week 8/9, back lesions were barely noticeable. Until week 12, I still had some stubborn bits on my shins, but it took a trained eye to see tiny lesions that still appeared around the torso, for example after a shower when the underlying skin is a bit pinker from the warm water. Small lesions have still appeared sporadically without warning or obvious pattern, but they are never particularly troublesome or long-lasting, and usually clear within a few days. As it came closer, I assumed that this might be a sign that the next injection was due, but mainly I take it as a reminder that my psoriasis still exists and the treatment is dealing with it. At the time of writing, it I have just had the third injection (week 16), and despite the odd lesions here and there overall the difference in my skin condition is remarkable, now being quite smooth and having also lost a degree of redness that had become a permanent feature of my complexion for the last however many years. In terms of side effects, for the first couple of months my back and shoulders were quite itchy, more so than historically. After approx week 10, this subsided but does still happen and I need a good scratch from time to time. The gastric difficulties that I had with methotrexate disappeared completely after the first couple of weeks. Nothing else has been noted. So, to date, my experience of Skyrizi has been good. In my view, it is the most effective treatment I have known in well over 25 years of living with psoriasis.