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Children's Health

Childhood Psoriasis: What Parents and Caregivers Need to Know

Summary & Participants

Developing psoriasis in childhood or adolescence can be devastating. One of the greatest challenges children with psoriasis face is the anticipation, fear, and anxiety of flare-ups. New treatment options can control the physical aspects of the disease, but children and teens also need psychological support and well-defined coping strategies. Join psoriasis experts as they discuss the role of parents and caregivers in helping children and teens feel more self-assured and less isolated.

Medically Reviewed On: July 23, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Your skin, it's engineered to protect, yet for some, it can also betray. One of the more visible ways, your outermost layer can act against you is with the condition 'psoriasis', a chronic and common inflammatory skin disorder.

Although psoriasis appears most often in adults, it can strike at any age. For children and young adults still developing a sense of 'self', the impact of psoriasis can be far-reaching.

AMY PALLER, MD: The emotional effects of psoriasis on children and on teenagers can be devastating. Imagine if you have red, scaling, ugly-looking spots on your skin that automatically makes you feel self-conscious. It makes you feel dirty, and it makes you feel different from other children.

KYLYNN WELSH: Sometimes people treat me differently because of my psoriasis. They usually stare or talk. But I usually ignore them or don't pay attention. It doesn't bother me.

GAIL ZIMMERMAN: The biggest challenge faced by children with psoriasis is how to respond to other children who may be teasing them. I think children who have not yet entered teenage years probably have a more accepting attitude about the psoriasis if the other children accept it.

ANNOUNCER: For older children, pre-teens and adolescents having psoriasis at this acute stage of development can be difficult to come to terms with.

AMY PALLER, MD: It is important for a teenager with psoriasis to get beyond what's going on in the skin, to see his or her own self-worth, and to make the commitment to get past it and to be recognized for the beauties within.

GAIL ZIMMERMAN: There are some more significant issues with teenagers about psoriasis. The biggest issue is dating and their prospects of dating. And their prospects of, as they get into college, will someone want to marry me.

ANNOUNCER: While having friends and feeling accepted by peers is a valuable lifeline for psoriasis sufferers, parents and primary caregivers play an even more instrumental role in helping their kids cope.

AMY PALLER, MD: It's very important that parents of a child who has a chronic, visible skin disease do not treat that child differently from the other children in the house. The child needs to actively participate in the disease treatment, and yet it shouldn't be made to be a burden.

KYLYNN WELSH: My friends and family help me out by not treating me differently and treating me normal. And they don't make me feel like an outcast.

ANNOUNCER: Identification with others can be a powerful self-confidence builder for teenagers at a crucial time in their social development.

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