some people suffer in silence with
psoriasis, not knowing there are effective treatment options available. dale botha, of abbotsford, b.c., is no longer one of them.
botha lived for most of his adult life with severe
psoriasis, a skin disorder causing itchy, painful red plaques on the skin, until a new medication cleared it completely.
“i had lesions all the way down my back,” he says. “picture a three to four inch wide strip of area right down the centre of your back that was just patches, and marks all the way up and down on my arms, and my legs.”
botha started taking a new kind of medication called a biologic, which has put his psoriasis in complete remission.
“starting on this treatment, it’s as if i have a new life,” he says.
the life he lived before was overshadowed by psoriasis. botha was first diagnosed at age 13, at a time when a person’s identity is first forming and self-esteem is already fragile.
“i’ve experienced bullying, cruelty, hurtfulness. you can throw thoughts of suicide in there,” botha says. “the ability for a person with psoriasis to reach really deep dark depths is very, very common.”
botha eventually learned to hide his psoriasis to protect himself. “when i did have lesions, regardless of the heat, i would wear a jacket, or i would wear denim,” he recounts.