Kashish Sharma
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Written By: Kashish Sharma | Published : January 10, 2023 5:37 PM IST
Khanna explained that foot psoriasis is though not contagious but requires a lot of personal hygiene
Imagine a small painful blister underneath your foot. Every time you walk with it, you feel pain and discomfort. It is enough to spoil your day, isn't that so? Living with foot psoriasis can be distressing and can adversely impact the quality of life of the person affected by it. The foot condition could mean applying endless ointments, taking medications and making regular visits to a therapist. Being an auto-immune condition, it can be only managed well.
Foot psoriasis is a chronic foot condition in which your immune system might be attacking your skin cells. The condition can be triggered by many factors, medication being one and experts are still trying to understand what might be causing it. The quick death of your skin cells results in faster regrowth. This follows a buildup of immature skin cells that might form thick scale-like pilings. These patches are usually itchy, red and extremely sensitive. A person affected by the condition can have a foot that appears heavily bruised. However, the condition can range between mild and severe.
Psoriasis isn't contagious but requires a lot of care and adjustments on part of the person affected by it. Amita Khanna (name changed), a woman in her mid-fifties shared her 22 years long painful battle with the condition.
Khanna, a middle-aged woman hails from the city of Taj and is a teacher in one of the schools there. It was in the year 2000 when she first spotted a "bindi" like dry spot on her foot. She described how the dry mass started to grow as she scratched it every time.
She said: "I probably think it was a reaction to some medicine I had changed sometime before the dot emerged. After that, it was an endless struggle. That year changed my life completely."
Khanna shared how the dot grew into thick scale piles that made her foot like one that is badly bruised or injured. "I felt shy and fearful in showing my foot to other people, especially colleagues. The sight was not pleasant to the eyes. I was afraid of getting extreme responses that could make me feel worse about my situation. The only way out was to wear socks whenever I was out. There were days when there was scorching heat and I had no other option but to wear my socks all day long," she said.
She shared how often her socks used to become soaked with blood and watery fluids that oozed out of the irritated scales. "Some days my students used to point out my blood-drenched socks and it used to be embarrassing for me."
Khanna shared how her social life has been jeopardized due to her condition. Fond of dressing up for parties, she had to miss many social events for fear of removing her socks.
Khanna told the Health site that her condition unlike others was often discounted by other people who couldn't easily relate to her unless she showed them her foot. "My husband is the only person who understood what it meant to live with this pain. My experience loses its value if I am not able to show them the bruised-like hurting foot. There is another risk yet. I feared the sight would disgust some people. There were many who felt bad for me but only a few who empathized with me."
She shared how at times she didn't feel comfortable in her own place. "Once I was working without socks in my kitchen and my house helper saw the infected foot. Her reaction was dramatic. It didn't make me feel good or understood. It made me feel as if my wound was repulsive or something people would pity."
Khanna explained that foot psoriasis is though not contagious but requires a lot of personal hygiene. "I know I can't spread it to others but the scales keep flaking here and there. Also, there are secretions like blood and watery fluids. It has to be cleaned from time to time. There were days when I avoided sharing the same bedsheet with others in the family."
She shared how the chronic pain would make her cry and this leads to a lot of frustration building up in her.
Khanna has been used to applying ointments and solutions of all kinds to the thick itchy scales. She shared how she was instructed by her attending doctor to use the tip of her small finger to apply the solution. Initially, not used to spreading the application evenly all over the area, Khanna made use of extra pressure and this would initiate the itchiness.
"Once it begins to itch, then it will only escalate. A wrong touch could trigger irritation. It would end up bleeding," she said.
She shared how on chilling cold winter nights, she often used to keep her foot exposed out in the cold because the delicate fabric of the blanket used to tickle her and could possibly initiate a flare-up.
Khanna shared how her condition is often rubbed off as a skin irritation. "Once I was in need of some leave and had asked a senior at work for it. The immediate response was that nobody takes leave for a skin condition. The only way I could make my senior believe in my pain was to show them my foot. When I did that, my senior was in tears."
She shared that skin conditions are often discounted by people. They are often taken as less serious and less distressing.
Khanna shared how to improve her condition she hasn't left any stone unturned. She has tried everything from allopathy, ayurveda, and homoeopathy to natural therapy as well. She has also visited many doctors in Agra, Delhi and Mumbai. However, the only thing that showed considerable improvement in her was natural therapy. Khanna couldn't follow the therapy for very long as the therapy was a bit demanding for her and was not sitting well with her other chronic conditions like diabetes.
"The therapy did improve my condition remarkably but I couldn't continue it for long. It had its own set of challenges. I was asked to starve myself before the session. Even an enema was used to empty my stomach. I could only eat raw vegetables with coconut. It was taxing for me as a working woman. Also, I am a diabetic. So, these conditions prevented me to continue it further but for whatever time I did, I am happily satisfied. It has greatly improved my condition. My foot is far better now."
Khanna continues to live with the condition. She has grown stronger mentally and is able to manage her condition much more effectively. According to Khanna, her foot psoriasis hasn't been cured but has improved considerably with constant care.
