Thirty years ago, I asked my dermatologist, Dr. O, about a cure for psoriasis. He said that possibly in my lifetime we’d have one.
So when I recently had a chance to ask dermatologists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a question, I asked them the same one: How close are we to a cure for psoriasis?
Community Gathering for a Cause
The National Psoriasis Foundation Take Action event at the San Francisco Zoo provided the perfect backdrop for a question-and-answer session with prominent researchers. Community organizers, donors, patients, and physicians gathered in late September to learn, make connections, and raise funds for a good cause.
Improving the quality of life for those with psoriatic disease and finding a cure continues to be a great motivator for those of us impacted by this life-altering disease. These community events bring encouragement that we’re making progress toward these goals.
Psoriasis treatments have improved over the decades. However, I’d given up on finding a cure. After hearing the response to my question, I am more hopeful than ever before that a cure for psoriasis is possible.
Research Advances Raise Hopes That a Cure Is Within Reach
The UCSF dermatologist who responded mentioned advances in research that could lead to a psoriasis cure. I searched for articles on the topic and found one in the journal Nature. The article reports that a “psoriasis cure could be in touching distance.”
Current biologic treatments target particular antibodies in the immune system that cause the inflammation of psoriasis. While these novel medications revolutionized treating psoriasis, patients like me need to keep taking them or the plaques will return.
In addition, these biologic treatments can stop working or potentially lead to adverse effects if taken long term. These concerns are real to me. I've injected Skyrizi (risankizumab-rzaa) every eight weeks for over six years now, and I’m afraid to see what would happen if I were to stop. At the same time, the longer I take it, the more anxious I become about its safety.
Early Treatment Is a Factor in Successful Treatment
According to the Nature article, researchers are “studying the 10 to 20 percent of people with psoriasis whose condition does not relapse for months or even years after stopping treatment.”
Early treatment, within one year of the onset of symptoms, appears to be a factor that limits psoriasis relapses.
The concept of hitting psoriasis hard and early “is not new and has supporting evidence in other autoimmune inflammatory diseases,” according to an article on MedPage Today.
While this approach won’t help me, it sounds promising for those who are newly diagnosed.
This article listed eight therapies being researched that point to the possibility of a psoriasis cure. I’d love to sit down with the dermatology researcher from UCSF to better understand each of them, but just knowing that they are out there gives me hope there is a rising sun after a long, dark night fighting this condition.
How My Life Would Look With a Cure
I received a call last week from my dermatologist’s office stating that my Skyrizi is approved for another year. Relief washed over me knowing that my insurance provider granted coverage for it.
A psoriasis cure, however, would remove the need for injection schedules and calls to the specialty pharmacy. I wouldn’t worry about insurance delays and denials to medications that my doctor prescribes. I could clear my mind of a lifetime of wondering what treatment is next when this one fails.
I wouldn’t think twice about traveling. I could rid myself of the long checklist of skin-care products and medications that I tote along every trip. The money I save from checking bags at the airport with moisturizers that don’t fit the 3.4-ounce limit for carry-on baggage could go toward a much-needed airport meal.
And the money is not all I’d save. Reducing the price of maintaining all my psoriasis routines measured in hours, energy, and dollars would give back so much of my life. I’d gain peace of mind in the reduction of risks for comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and depression.
I’m once again hoping and praying for a chain of breakthroughs that lead to a life-changing cure. I’ll add it back to my Christmas list for a dad who is hard to find a gift for.
Thriving Until a Cure Arrives
It’s wonderful to dream about a psoriasis cure. Still, my daily life (for the time being) doesn’t change. Skin-care routines continue. Managing stress, sleep, diet, and exercise remain integral to coping well with chronic illness.
This trip to the future leads to sadness as I come back to the road I’ve traveled with psoriasis for 45 years. Reality sets in that the psoriasis journey isn’t over, reminding me of when my young kids asked on a long road trip, “Are we there yet?”
When I look back, though, I see we’ve made progress. Burdensome treatments I took 25 years ago are obsolete. If I keep going knowing that improvements are likely in the not-too-distant future, I know I’ll be okay.
And if we join together, as those of us did at the San Francisco Zoo, it’ll make the time pass by all the more quickly until we make it to the destination of a psoriasis cure.
