I have had psoriasis for over 30 years. It started in my late 20s after the birth of my first child. I used steroid creams for years but the skin on my knees & elbows got so thin the slightest knock & it would bleed.  So I stopped using the prescribed medication & just used moisturisers.

When I was 12 I was diagnosed with psoriasis. I remember the day it just appeared. My mum and I thought it was just poison ivy, but then it kept getting worse.

Just before my 40th birthday I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrific pain in the inside of my right knee. This developed into inflamed knees, ankles, wrists and fingers. I couldn't use my hands, couldn't kneel down, couldn't  do anything. I was in terrible agony and very scared.

I have had trouble with my heels splitting for several years, I was referred to the dermatology dept and diagnosed with psoriasis. I have had multiple treatments and at the moment have had 7 PUVA treatments.

I started with psoriasis when I was 14 and then with psoriatic arthritis when I was in my late teens/early twenties.  I had many treatments at first i.e. tar baths, coal tar cream, ultra violet light treatment 3 times a week, which helped a bit, but not a lot.

I'm 33 and have had Psoriasis since I was 8 years old.   I always managed my condition fairly well as a teenager using topical treatments and going for light therapy when I was unable to keep it under control.  My psoriasis went away during my first pregnancy and returned really slowly but was manageable.

I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis three weeks ago on my initial visit to a rheumatologist.  My presentation was two hands that didn't work, right hand was very swollen and couldn't be closed, painful and no strength. Had been going on for four months. I also have weird white area on multiple fingers that had developed rapidly.

I may have had traces of un-diagnosed scalp psoriasis for several years and it defiantly runs in my family.  But April 2013 when I just started a new job working in the emergency room I had a full-blown angry red rash all over my body.

It was early January 2014 when I began getting constant aches and pains. That is just what I thought they were. I had been extremely busy over the christmas period working full time hours at a store in town as well as studying at university.

I am 63 years old. I started to develop small patches of psoriasis on my knees and elbows in my late 20s. By the time I was forty I had a full blown case. I attempted to treat it myself with over the counter cortisone cream. Didn't really do much.