People with psoriasis often look for famous personalities (living with psoriasis) to find hope and motivation because when a person with notable accomplishments shares his/her experience of living with psoriasis publicly, it helps a great deal erasing the stigma and fear associated with this chronic autoimmune skin condition.
CariDee English, born September, 1984, is an America based fashion model and TV actor who has been quite open about her experiences of living with psoriasis. The winner of America’s Next Top Model 7, CariDee has worked with several leading fashion brands, magazines and modelling agencies, including CoverGirl cosmetics, Elite Models and the teen magazine Seventeen.
She got diagnosed with psoriasis at the tender age of five and has been living with it ever since.
Psoriasis doesn’t have a cure; you have to live with it anyhow. I mean, do we have any other option? But, when you decide not to let psoriasis dictate your life choices; rather struggle your way to do the things that matters to you, eventually it makes you stronger and confident than ever before.
Psoriasis ruled most of her childhood and teenage as she would wear full sleeve tops and dresses to avoid people’s stares and distasteful remarks. But, by the time she turned 20, she decided to take charge of her life, do whatever it takes to manage the symptoms and make efforts to realize her childhood dream of becoming a fashion model.
I got psoriasis at 5 and at one point of time, it covered almost 80% of my body. But I wanted to become a model; I struggled and worked hard for it and that perseverance shaped me the person I am today.
Despite of psoriasis, I achieved my dream of entering the modelling and showbiz industry, so you can fulfil your dreams too. Psoriasis doesn’t have the power to stop you.
Living with psoriasis is frustrating at times
Affecting more than 100 million people across the world, psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, non-contagious, systemic condition with effects going far beyond than just skin-deep. Majority of the people with psoriasis agree that the psychological impact of living with psoriasis is more severe than the physical symptoms.
The red patches (covered with silvery white flakes) would be often mistaken for a contagious condition, generate unwanted attention and bring all sorts of hardships for the affected people. These randomly scattered psoriasis lesions on the skin got the potential to affect almost every aspect of the individual’s life, be it education, profession, social life, dating and relationships, and what not.
People would say that psoriasis is just a skin condition but for those living with it, psoriasis changes their whole life.
Psoriasis is itchy, dry and sometimes uncomfortable, but the most painful thing is that it could be seen by everyone around you allowing them to judge you with whatever limited knowledge they have about this largely ignored skin condition.
The insecurities about psoriasis are mainly in the head, says CariDee
She says that the more open you become about it, the more publicly you speak about the good and bad experiences of living with psoriasis, the stronger you become and the emotional baggage of insecurities gets lighter and lighter.
I was so wrong with my earlier assumption that if I go public about my skin issue, it will cause a lot of backlash and judgement as people would find it harmful and ugly. But what I received is a lot of support and positive vibes. The reality is that most people really don’t care. Yes, there are some people who would judge, gossip and even stare, but they are as insecure as I because of their own imperfections and maybe they need some love, compassion and right information about psoriasis.
Earlier, she used to feel vulnerable and insecure inside but would behave confident and bubbly outside to give the impression that everything is normal in her life.
As she has opened up about psoriasis, now, she doesn’t need to fake anything because she genuinely feels beautiful and good enough with no need to seek approval from others.
Develop a desire to manage psoriasis and work for it
There is no cure for psoriasis and you need to learn the art of managing the symptoms by exploring various treatment options available to you considering the treatment effectiveness, potential side effects and treatment cost.
According to CariDee, it’s important to find a capable and reliable dermatologist and work with them to find a treatment that fits in your budget and brings good results with minimal side effects.
Along with the treatment, it is very important to understand your psoriasis (after all it is your life-long buddy 🙂) and do the things that bring improvement in the symptoms and avoid the things that trigger a flare up. For example, if a certain food or lack of sleep or anything specific triggers your psoriasis, try to avoid that stuff and similarly, if something helps with subsiding the symptoms, do them often.
CariDee as a psoriasis advocate
Living with psoriasis can be quite a lonely journey because it only affects a small percentage of the total population and on the top of that, many of the people with psoriasis would never reveal about it in public.
So, when we see everyone around us with clear skin and physical appearance being given so much importance, it’s obvious for us to feel demotivated and we seek someone to look up to for inspiration and support.
Here comes the role of a psoriasis advocate and if that person is an accomplished fashion model and actress, you can imagine the extent of the positive impact it has.
The biggest reason for social stigma against psoriasis is the misconception that it can be contagious. So, it’s so important to spread the word that psoriasis is non communicable and when these words come from the mouth of a celebrity, the message has a wider reach and influence.
As a psoriasis advocate, CariDee is doing her bit to make this world a better to live for people with psoriasis. She is a former spokesperson for the National Psoriasis Foundation and worked with various other psoriasis support organizations. Also, she has talked about psoriasis on various public platforms, including print and digital media outlets.
She frequently shares her pictures on Instagram wearing the psoriasis spots with pride in her quest to inspire the fellow psoriasis community to rise above the skin imperfection and live their life freely.
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CariDee’s message to fellow people with psoriasis
Every women and men want to have a good skin to look attractive and having a chronic skin condition as impactful as psoriasis can be incredibly disheartening.
I want to tell everyone out there who feels insecure, scared and exhausted (due to psoriasis) that it will get better, so much better. You just need to keep going and never stop chasing your dreams.
It’s okay that you have psoriasis, but don’t let psoriasis control your life. Don’t let it come between you and your dreams.
Everyone got imperfections, leading to insecurities. Sometimes they are skin-deep just as in case of psoriasis. So, we have to feel perfect in our imperfections, secure in our insecurities and strong in the times of weakness. We are beautiful in our own ways and it’s high time we realize and believe it.
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