Career confidence

I have had psoriasis for over 16 years and am classed as being in the moderate to severe end of the spectrum. I view it as the enemy that must be destroyed and, although it may have won some battles over the years, I am determined to win the war!

In my early career I worked in sales and marketing; a job that involved meeting clients and attending events. It was a busy life, not without stress which, as we all know, just exacerbates psoriasis even more. But I was lucky, as I come from a background of immense support and encouragement (gotta’ love the Irish Mammy!) which instilled in me a self-confidence that allowed me to tackle psoriasis head on. I have never felt ashamed of my skin – psoriasis is but a small part of who I am and quite honestly, the rest of me is way more interesting!

“As much as I hate to admit this, psoriasis really does impact every area of life.”

The only way that my colleagues would know about my skin condition was if it appeared on my face or hands. Otherwise, it was fully concealed. White, grey, taupe and cream became my ‘black’ – the dependable hues of my wardrobe guaranteed to mask the appearance of flakes on my shoulders. Full length trousers were the norm, hiding the fact that beneath my always in-vogue boots, I wore sports style knee socks to protect my legs and prevent the flakes from escaping. Summer was a time for wide legged linen trousers whilst arms were covered by gossamer light shrugs that appeared to others to be my fashion trademark, but were in fact my way of concealing the plaques. If it appeared on my hands, distraction was my tactic – a good manicure, some nice jewellery and actually refusing to focus on it too much does work.

When I suffered a particularly bad flare-up, I would sometimes tell my colleagues – but only to avoid any potential pity, albeit well-meaning. ‘My skin is acting up’ I would shrug and that would be the end of the discussion. It’s the enemy, remember? I wasn’t going to give it any more air time than necessary. My colleagues were always quietly supportive; respectful of my desire not to dwell on it. After one particularly soul destroying trip to the International Psoriasis Clinic in the Dead Sea in Israel (from which I returned as flaky as when I had left), they were truly wonderful. ‘It didn’t work’ was my curt statement as I walked into the office. Their response was to cart me off for a (very) liquid lunch where we raised a toast to the hopes of a future cure and laughed in the face of this awful disease. Laughter is good! Laughter really helps!

In all the years of having flaky skin, it has never affected my career. It has never caused an issue with colleagues, and it has never prevented me from doing anything I’ve wanted to do in a work environment. I have told my colleagues that I have psoriasis… but I have not weighted that information with too much importance. I have remained constantly adamant that it will not define me. In essence, I think how I approach my working life as a psoriasis sufferer is best summed up in this mantra, “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up.” Not a bad philosophy for life!