I was almost 21 when I was diagnosed with psoriasis.
At one point I had it on both hands and on my feet. Now it’s just on my hands.

It’s really noticeable, especially on your hands. I don’t hide it at all. When you meet people, you usually want to shake hands. But my one hand, I can hardly open it. People are like, “Why don’t you want to shake my hand?” It hurts. I just tell them I have psoriasis really bad on that hand. The other one is not as bad, and sometimes I shake with that hand.

I’m a custodian, so I work with my hands every day. It dries my hands out so much I can hardly get the gloves on, but with so many germs out there you’ve got to wear them. I’m at a grade school at night. There’s a bunch of kids there. A lot of kids ask questions. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s best to explain it to them. I tell them I have psoriasis, and that it’s not contagious, and they’re cool with it. If you kind of push it off they’re like, “What’s wrong with this guy?”

I love sports, talking about sports. I run my own website, and that’s how I mostly meet people these days. They get to know me over the internet, then I meet them in person. I’m not trying to avoid people, but it’s just easier that way – you don’t have to deal with the questions. It’s tough sometimes.

My family deals with it real, real well. My wife is very supportive. I have three kids – 20, 19, and 18 years old. They don’t have it, but I didn’t get it until I was 20, so who knows if they will get it? I worry.

I held a Short Sleeve Day fundraiser for this area a couple years ago. We’ve definitely got to get funding to find a cure. Psoriasis is tough on people. They put so much money into other bad diseases, and not to take anything away from them, but I’ve met some people disabled by psoriatic arthritis – psoriasis is a serious disease.

Over the years I’ve done every single medicine that’s out there, it seems like. A couple helped for a while and then I stopped. Hopefully the next one – that will be the one that clears it up.

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