CariDee English, winner of the 2006 season of of the TV show America’s Next Top Model, has courageously released photos of her recent severe psoriasis flare. (We’ve posted about this before but it’s worth taking another look.) English, who makes her living in front of cameras in an industry hyper-focused on image, has shown true grit in making these pictures available.
You can view some of her pictures along with an interview with her about her flare here, as well as see additional pictures here.
Let’s face it: educati
ng the public about psoriasis using celebrities is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it generates media exposure about psoriasis that would otherwise never occur. That’s the good news. But it also (until now) presented famous, smiling, well-insured stars with seemingly perfect skin as the ‘face’ of psoriasis. That is not, needless to say, the reality for most of the Psoriasis Cure Now community. Many of us are battling visible psoriasis, or high co-pays, or no insurance, or psoriatic arthritis, or pain, or all of that and more. These stark photos of a star with the kind of psoriasis many of us are facing or have faced, is a welcome reality check that will give the public at large a deeper understanding of the reality of psoriasis.
Our only gripe with this media coverage is that it appears to be glossing over what caused her flare. Other reports have suggested that her flare followed the removal of Raptiva from the market in June 2009. Raptiva was a biologic for psoriasis that led to several deaths among patients who had used the treatment for at least three years. She had reportedly been using Raptiva successfully. This, too, is part of the reality of psoriasis: that the treatments we use can have serious side-effects. In the case of Raptiva, it took several years on the market, and some 30,000 patients using it, before the medical community figured out that it led to fatalities.
So kudos to CariDee English for sharing her story with the public. We are glad her new treatment is working for her. And we hope she will tell more about what caused her flare in future media interviews.
Category: Impact of psoriasis, Patient Stories, Treatment
Tags: CariDee English
Thank you for sharing CariDee’s experience. Seeing an individual with public prominence share their flare in pictures broke down some of the feelings that no one else would understand. She is an amazing woman!
Thank you for sharing CariDee’s experience. Seeing an individual with public prominence share their flare in pictures broke down some of the feelings that no one else would understand. She is an amazing woman!
Thanks for this. I’m 32 living with this disease for 18 years and it’s nice to see psoriasis in a fashionable light. It’s hard to hide, but she has the ultimate confidence.