Psoriasis (young people)

Megan: I remember sitting there once the nurse had told my Mum and I just sat there and like loads of questions went through my head, like I didn't know what to think because a seven year old doesn't expect to sit in the hospital and be told that she's got a skin condition, which she could have for the rest of her life. And I just kind of sat there like, this is going to entail on my whole life, I could have it for the rest of it, and like people are going to think it's ugly and horrible, like I'm going to lose so many people because of it.

Russell: So I feel like I'm best equipped to cope with it right now, because I'm kind of at a peak in terms of adaptability. So I can just take it on in the same way that kind of you'd add a meeting to your calendar or something, or you decide that you want to start playing a different sport this year and you add it on. I've got to sort of put some cream on at night, and you just add it on in that sense. So it's not something that's come, it's not something out of the blue, it's something that I can sort of tag on to a, a lot of other things. So it just kind of becomes part of of life.

Hannah: I feel like it's a really strange journey. It's been a really strange journey for me because when it's at its worst, you always think I just want it to get even a slight bit better and I'll be happy. And then when it does you’re not, and you're just sort of never really satisfied because you're always looking at other people whose skin. For some reason, you're always comparing yourself to people whose skin seems to be seemingly perfect. And with me because of my skin tone being quite tanned, when my psoriasis went I was left with lots of hyperpigmentation. So I found myself kind of even being frustrated at that.

Ella: I think one of the things that I've always had is the doctors going, "Right, here's your creams and you have to put them on twice a day, every day, you have to use these certain shampoos, these certain soaps and everything like that, and you have to use them." And I think while obviously they know exactly what they're talking about, it can be difficult to- to do exactly what they say, like I probably should be putting my creams on twice a day, every day, but I only put it on once a day because I literally don’t have the time in the morning to put them on in the morning, and if I did put them on in the morning then my skin would not feel very nice – like it would feel greasy

Louis: So I think for anyone who's dealing-, who's coming into contact with someone who's got a skin condition, whether they're a GP or whether they're a friend, whether they're a stranger - try to think that this person isn't just a rash or a boil or a whatever. They are a person who happens to have this quite inconvenient problem with their skin. And they'd much rather you treated them as the person they are than just a skin condition.