The appearance of the disease
Isabelle is 39 years old. At 16 she saw her first plaque appear psoriasis behind the head, near the nape of the neck. But she does not yet know the name of this disease skin, her doctor no more than she. At first she does not worry too much, even if she is of an anxious nature. But at 18-19 years, overnight, impressive plaques proliferate on his legs and smaller on the back. She does not make the connection with the one in her head.
In the 80s the psoriasis is still a disease unknown, that many think contagious. Isabelle does not find any interlocutors able not only to treat her correctly but also to explain to her how to live as best as possible with her.
confinement
At the approach of her twenty years, she saw very badly this disgrace. "I shut myself in. At home we did not talk about it, I was very complex, it prevented me from going to others, I refused to sleep at a friend's house, to swim at the pool for fear of showing my body. "
The psoriasis then becomes a kind of carapace for the young woman. So that we lend him a bad character, he is accused of being bastard. What suits her: people are moving away and she is not obliged to explain her disease. What she is not able to do. Between 20 and 30 years old she lives almost recluse.
Speak more easily
Today, even if her daily life is not always obvious, she manages to talk about it with her colleagues in the office. "I was almost surprised to see that they did not change their attitude when I told them, so I could be appreciated with my disease of skin. The different treatments I did helped me a lot. I met people like me and got some answers to my questions. "
Her life as a woman wasted
In conversation with Isabelle we understand very quickly that her psoriasis is a handicap. Her private life is ruined, she is still single because of it. She has great difficulty maintaining a relationship with a man. It is actually her that she is wary. "I think I prefer to run away when I feel that a relationship can settle in. I'm afraid of my reaction when a man will discover my body, my plates.Fear of managing this daily life between a partner and recurring relapses. if ever a boy had a reaction of disgust towards me, I ended up hiding behind my psoriasis and forbid me to live things so much I feel bad about myself. "
Yet for over a year and a half Isabelle saw her psoriasis disappear. She regained the pleasure of putting on a short dress, showing her knees, her arms. Unfortunately an annoyance has very quickly reappeared plaques.
Thanks to Michèle Corvest, director and founder of the Aplcp (association for the fight against psoriasis) which brings together 15,000 patients across France.
www.aplcp.org