Pustular Psoriasis
T.P.
I was first diagnosed with palmar-planta (hand and foot) psoriasis in January 2008. This was after suffering undiagnosed symptoms for over 6 months. The various prescribed steroid creams I had used had not worked to reduce the pustules or the scaly skin; if anything my skin had deteriorated. After diagnosis, because the antibiotics I was prescribed only had a very limited effect, I was put on the waiting list for light therapy - a course of over 30 weeks of trips to the hospital. By now the condition seemed to have become a part of me. You can't avoid seeing your hands and you cannot really hide them from others in personal, social or business life. On a friend's recommendation and out of desperation - and I have to say entirely contrary to my inclination against alternative therapy - I made an appointment at Avicenna.
Dr Al Khafaji's assessment of my condition was utterly different from that of the doctors I had previously seen, all of whom had stressed that mine was a condition very difficult to treat and that I should assume I would get only limited relief from any treatment. Curing/ending the psoriasis was apparently not to be hoped for. In contrast, Dr Al Khafaji explained his intention was actually to take control of the disorder: to this end, he explained he would (1) improve the immediate quality of my skin with creams, (2) knock the auto-immune disorder on the head with a specific drug and (3) shift my physiology back into normal, long-term mode with a distillation of herbs. He also made it quite clear I did not have to have faith in the theories or practices of Chinese medicine for this to work.
Improvement came within the first month. The pustules reduced as did the flakiness of my skin. Further, marked improvement followed over the next two months. By this time the pustules had pretty much gone and broad patches of my skin were returning to their original state. It was now about a year since I had had first sign of the psoriasis and only 3 months since it had been at its worst, with rashes of pustules across my palms, fingers and over the back of my hands. For the first time in a year I was not thinking about the psoriasis first thing as I got up and last thing as I went to sleep. It was clearly going.
Over the next two months I stopped using any of the herbal creams, just moisturised with standard creams, and slowly reduced the dosage of the pills. After 5 months treatment I am now into my final few weeks, off the pills and only taking the herbal distillation. I have to say this still tastes pretty bad - you do not develop a fondness for it - but it is a rather small price to pay for what looks to have been a solution fto my psoriasis. I have never offered a testimonial of this sort before, but I strongly recommend anyone else who has psoriasis to try this treatment.