Sally's Story

In the past psoriasis has affected Sally's mental health and left her feeling alone, but she's determined that it won't define her.

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I've had plaque psoriasis my whole life, I’m 26 now and having grown up it seemed to pretty much go away. The odd bit would flare with stress but nothing like when I was a child. As a kid I was covered. We used to joke that mum and dad had a lizard, rather than a little girl.

However then in October last year I got a sudden blast of tonsillitis out of the blue. This made me get my first ever case of guttate psoriasis, which covered my entire body and was more painful than anything else my skin had thrown at me so far in my life.

My mental health took a turn for the worse, I stopped dating and I hated myself. Something so visible on your skin impacts your whole life and you feel so alone. But in reality, I wasn’t alone. It only started healing when I went to see a dermatologist privately. Unfortunately that cost me a month’s rent but I made it work for the sake of my health.

I’m starting to look like myself again and more importantly, feel like myself again and I don’t hate what I see in the mirror anymore.

My trouble seemed to educate a lot of my friends, my family and my workplace about the issues of auto immune diseases and for that at least, it’s a good thing it happened. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now and I attack my days like I used to.

It’s not defining me, no way.

Read more real-life stories from people living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.