Hey everyone, My name is Robbie and i live in Melbourne Australia. Obviously I have psoriasis. I have an identical twin brother who doesnt have psoriasis and four other siblings without it aswell. Mum and dad dont have it either so i feel pretty sorry for myself sometimes. Anyway im 22 now (nearly 23) and had psoriasis since i was 19. it first appeared on my abdomen and thought it was ringworm to start with. for 3 years my condtion as pretty managable and had minimal effect on my life until may last year when things kinda went haywire. it spead to under my arms, ears, scalp, buttock, bad on addomen, and around my groin area. I have manly 'inverse' psoriasis which is an uncommon kind i believe. Inverse psoriasis occurs in areas of the body where skin folds. Stuff was so bad for a bit that even walking was difficult and uncomfortable.
All this was even more depressing because i had just moved into my own place and was starting my new life. I had to defer my studies, quit my parttime job and stop going to the gym because i was in so much pain emotionally and physically. Anyway to cut a very long story short I started Raptiva 15 weeks ago and it's only had minimal effects so far so im very disapointed. I am hanging in there for 24 for weeks of the advice of my new derm and some others i have met. Has anyone here had any experience with Raptiva? Did you find it kept working and working even after 12 weeks?
I think this site is fantastic! I felt like i was the only young person in the world going through this sometimes before I found it. Great to meet you all!
-Robbie-

I hope the Raptiva works for you eventually! My old dermo wanted me to either do light treatment or enbrel...I decided to do neither because I didn't like how my dermo treated me and responded to my comments.
I see you mentioned you were from Melbourne, Aussie. I am from England but live in Melbourne, Florida!!!
Welcome to the site. I joined recently and I like it a lot! I also thought I was the only young person in the world with p and it is amazing that there is soo many people out here that actually has it.
Let me know how your p is doing and if Raptiva works for you. Hopefully it does. Good luck!!

Hey glh158806 thanks so much for the reply.
I had no idea that another Melbourne existed wow thats cool! I had a bad experience with my old derm as well. I often left his office in tears because he was so harsh and seemed like he didnt care about my welfare at all. He couldnt understand how strongly i was affected emotionally and treated me like i was a mental case. I recently starting seeing someone new and it does make a significant difference i found to have someone you get along with.
Anyway you say you didnt like your old derm so i guess you are with someone else now. Hope you like them better! So what are you doing to treat your P at the moment? I did a course of light therapy but unfortunately it wasnt effective for me as the location of my psoriasis is difficult for the light to penetrate. Ive heard alot of good things about enbrel. Thats probably where im heading if Raptiva doesnt work anymore. Anyways great to meet you and talk to you soon :)
-Robbie-