Newby to this forum

I have been a HealingWell member for many years, and hung out on the Ulcerative Colitis board until a couple of years ago. With that issue in a long and stable remission, I've not been around since then. Two weeks ago I received a definitive diagnosis of plaque psoriasis. It affects my scalp and my face from the scalp line down to just above my eyebrows, my hands and arms to a lesser degree. At this point, after two months treatment with steroid creams, I'm about 80% improved and hoping it continues. I'm okay with this level, although 100% will always be the goal. At this point, I'm just happy not to be leaving a snowstorm of flakes everywhere I sit in the house.

I'm going to spend some time reading to educate myself, but I don't like to just show up on a forum with no introduction. Thanks in advance to all of you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. I just realized I need to update my signature, so I'll do that next.

Thank you for asking, yes, I'm now about 80% clear with topical steroids. I hope they continue to work for me.

I was on Prednisone off and on for about 6 months. Then, because my flare was still bad, my doctor put me on Endocort, which is released in the colon and supposedly not absorbed systemically so is considered "topical". I was on it for about two years, and it was definitely systemic for me, as I developed some of the typical long-term steroid side effects. I've been off all oral steroids since early in 2006 which is also when I started on Remicade.

Zen Hen, thanks for your comments. I'm so bad; haven't logged in here for months. My psoriasis continues to be consistently active, but varying in degree. This week, it decided to try something new. It extended down onto my cheeks, essentially affecting my whole face. So I look rosy-cheeked, but with flakes. Still continuing with topicals. I've noticed a lot of the biologicals used for psoriasis say diarrhea or inflammatory bowel disease can be adverse reactions, since I already have ulcerative colitis I probably couldn't use those. I'm already on Remicade for my UC, so that complicates things too.

I've pretty much decided to accept my "new look". It isn't painful and it doesn't affect my functioning, so the heck with it!