Afsah's Story

Afsah struggled with her pustular psoriasis while she was growing up, and bullying affected her self-esteem. Here she shares her story and how going to the gym has helped her to feel more positive.

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I have had pustulosa psoriasis for the last 17 years and it's been really hard. I was born in France but the treatment was not good over there, so the French doctors recommended to go to England and get treated, and we moved to England.

I got bullied and lost tons of friends during primary school just because of my psoriasis, people were scared that they would get psoriasis and that made me depressed, so after a few years we went back to France to live there. But going back was a big mistake, my skin was so bad that I stayed in hospital for almost 2 years. Even if I went to college in France, people would punch me, kick me and take all my blood out, just because of psoriasis! I honestly felt like giving up, I felt like a dead fish.

So after 2 years of torture we left France and hopefully we are here forever. I went to high school for 2 years and my psoriasis was terrible, I caught pneumonia and that made my life soo hard because I didn't get my GCSEs in maths and English, I still got 6 GCSEs.

In 2018 the whole year my skin was perfect, I did one year of college without any stress, but as soon as 2019 came my skin is as bad as it can get... I am not feeling good at all, I am depressed but I am going to the gym which is helping me soooo much. My personal trainer and my gym has changed my life sooo much... I just want to say to people with psoriasis it's hard but try to be #happywithpsoriasis because I think it shows how much God loves us.

Read more real-life stories from young people living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.