Alicja's Story

Alicja was diagnosed with psoriasis just before her 18th birthday. Here she describes her journey with the condition and why she started the #JestemBiedronka social project.

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My life with psoriasis had started a week before my 18th birthday and the first thought I got in my head was "I cannot be a blood donor”, which was my dream for many years. I cried because of it, not because I heard I’m ill. Not even one member of my family has psoriasis, so everyone was shocked when I got this information from my doctor.

At the beginning, there were only a few spots on my elbows (of course they gave me steroid creams) but with time they started to spread.

I didn’t know where to find physical and psychological help. I know that I’m stronger than my illness but still, there were moments when I felt like a loser because of ps. My hobby is cosplay, so it was quite obvious that my appearance means even more to me. I started to hold back with my hobby.

Last year I started a second major of studies and this was my breaking point. I work so hard for everything, but my psoriasis was in the worst state ever. In the morning I had to wait to move my arm because everything was hurting and cracking so much. I got used to itching and bleeding. I decided to change it, give myself some time.

I gave up on my second major. I started a diet, new way of thinking and it's working. Of course, not every spot back to normal and I have to wait for results, but I was getting better! I came back to cosplay, even became a Polish representative in the European cosplay contest, C4 2017.

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Nowadays, I am an active member in a Polish support group, and have had many positive comments on my post about my hobby and “not giving up”. This is why I started the social project #JestemBiedronką which means "I'm a ladybug" (something like a cute nickname for psoriasis warrior). I want to show people that they are beautiful and they can achieve their goals.

We did 2 photo sessions with Szkoła Kreatywnej Fotografii in Cracow, and now we are waiting for our first exhibition - 14th May. We are more than amazed by responses on our fanpage - more than 80,000 people have seen our content! Not only in Poland but around the world. Even if we are just a little drop of water in the process of changing social perspectives of psoriasis, we are really glad we did it. This project has changed me and given me more strength than any other treatment, even if my skin looks worse then half a year ago, I'm accepting it.

Photo credit: Agata Lazar, Make up: Maja Bławuciak

Read more real-life stories from young people living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.