Facial Plaque - 2 years (and counting) breakout

Hi J I'm sorry to hear about the breakout of psoriasis on your face. I have occasionally experienced facial psoriasis. The most memorable bout was 10 years ago, whilst extremely stressed at work, dealing with a client's employee who displayed antisocial and narcissistic behavior. I let the client go and my skin healed relatively quickly. I've found facial psoriasis the most distressing as it's so visible. myskin.org, in the section Discoveries and Publications includes the results of a survey which found: "What triggered your psoriasis for the first time?" 34% responded: Stress "What makes your psoriasis worse?" 67% responded: Stress I was diagnosed with psoriasis age 7. Until 16 I was an inpatient and outpatient of dermatology at a children's hospital. Since then my GP's prescribed T-Gel shampoo. I stopped using this a year ago as it was no longer needed. I'm now 49. In recent years I've concluded that psoriasis is a symptom of something else, and whilst topical treatments relieve the symptoms, they don't cure the condition. Four years ago, age 45, I read psychotherapist Pete Walker's book Complex PTSD, which resonated with my own life. A year later I found two articles on PTSD UK's website that refer to the link between psoriasis and PTSD, a link which had never occurred to me until then. "Unexpected physical symptoms of PTSD" "The link between skin conditions and PTSD". PTSD UK has two online webinars coming up "Trauma explained: Understanding PTSD and C-PTSD". The first now has a waiting list, the second has tickets available. Thursday 5th June 7:30 - 9pm Wednesday 11th June 11:30am to 1pm After reading the two articles on PTSD UK's website I engaged the services of a consultant clinical psychologist, and our work together included EMDR, hypnotherapy, and rapid transformational therapy. My psoriasis has almost disappeared. It's a bizarre experience seeing the patches, which are mainly on my torso, slowly fade, having had psoriasis for over 40 years. In my experience, a holistic approach to healing includes: Eating healthily Light exercise: walking, swimming, dancing Mindful activities: restorative yoga, sound baths, nature, crafting Last month I met with a dermatologist who is planning to study the mind / skin connection further. During our conversation I explained my experience of the delayed reaction of psoriasis to stress. Unlike my cat, whose reactions are instant, when say, another cat enters the garden, and her fur stands on end and tail becomes like a bottle brush, which quickly fades after she's escorted the other cat off site, psoriasis is a much slower process. Stressful triggers may cause psoriasis to appear a couple of weeks later. And when the stress has passed, it can take years for the patches of psoriasis to disappear. A patch that appeared on my torso 3 years ago following a stressful experience, has only recently faded away. You may find it helpful to keep a health diary to identify possible links between life events & experiences, and flare ups of psoriasis.