Thursday, January 30, 2014

Swamp butt and other horrors of inverse psoriasis

Inverse Psoriasis is one of my forms of Psoriasis that doesn't seem to respond to any of my treatments.  It is both uncomfortable and embarrassing.  It tends to dwell in areas that hold moisture and have sensitive skin like the belly button, groin, butt crack, armpits, behind the knees, under the breasts, and anywhere that you might have folds of skin.  Keeping these areas dry, if possible, helps comfort levels a lot, but nothing seems to really improve it or make it comfortable for me.

When my inverse psoriasis is at it's worst it will crack and bleed.  I am always paranoid I will get an infection because these are places that never really seem to fully dry out and are a prime growing area for the evils of fungus and germs.  I have tried any number of treatments from topical steriods, powders, glycerin and witch hazel, tar soaps, air drying after bathing, naked days, and pads that hold moisture away from the skin.  Unfortunately nothing seems to work for me.  I am beyond frustrated.

I bring this up today because as is usual I am having the normal winter psoriasis flare, but my inverse seems much worse than it has been in the past.  My innie belly button is red and angry and has an inverse patch surrounding it so it's uncomfortable to wear any pants that come within 3 inches of it.  My butt crack has actually got a crack and hurts.  Though I am loving the beautiful weather we are having here in Arizona my back sweat seems to go straight to that crack and burns.  My groin has a red halo that goes half way down my thighs and is embarrassing.  I am self conscious about even my partner seeing it.  My armpits itch, and there is no happy place when it comes to shaving or being hairy.  Even behind my knees are affected and burn.  I also have it inside my ears and with the addition of being a wet wax person I feel like I'm going deaf and need to scrape my eardrums out.

I am supposed to start Cimzia next week so I'm really hoping it will help with this curse.  I also hope to buy a house with a pool this summer so naked sunbathing can be a reality which might help.  My neighbors may hate me, but they shouldn't be peeping over my fence.

For those of you who don't know what Inverse looks like here are a few pictures of mine...
Inverse behind knee.  This was taken last year so not as bad as it currently is, but a picture I already had on file.

Inverse in my groin area.  It also is a picture from last year.  The bottom of the picture is the inner thigh near my groin.
For those of you that suffer with this I truly feel your pain and hope you can find something that brings you relief.

Some suggestions I have been given and tried in the past are:
Medicated powder like gold bond
A combination of witch hazel and glycerine both of which are available at most pharmacies (Walgreens or CVS in the US)
Tar soap, many varieties available at pharmacies or on Amazon.com
Wearing breathable and loose clothing to minimize rubbing and production of sweat

Hopefully one of these things may give you some level of relief.