Psoriasis patients turning to Facebook for support, information

Oct. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Psoriasis patients are turning increasingly to Facebook and other social media to exchange treatment ideas with others and to receive and provide support to one another, the nonprofit Psoriasis Cure Now reports.  The growth of Facebook, in particular, is making it easier for people from across America, and the world, to reach out to one another.  Psoriasis Cure Now’s bustling hub of people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis is here: http://www.facebook.com/PsoriasisCureNow .

Of course, when a forum is open to anyone, patients must use caution when weighing the accuracy and motives behind comments posted on the site.  Inaccurate and even bogus information is a constant danger.  But the benefits outweigh those challenges, as there are many people with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis who know no others with the disease in their communities.  Social networks let people with psoriasis connect with one another outside of a dermatologist’s waiting room.

“Facebook has enabled psoriasis patients from even the most remote location to connect with a worldwide ‘family’ of other psoriasis patients,” said Michael Paranzino, president of Psoriasis Cure Now.  “The isolation felt by so many psoriasis patients for so long, can now be defeated, at least in part, by anyone with an internet connection.”

Many patients, however, remain reluctant to post personal details on Facebook, given the permanence of information on the internet as well as the fact that many people are hiding their psoriasis from coworkers and others.  To provide psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients with a forum exclusively for psoriasis patients and their families, Psoriasis Cure Now launched its Psoriasis.Name social network, which has exploded in popularity.  It is on the web here:  http://www.psoriasis.name .

Psoriasis.Name allows members to post just using a first name, for example, and its psoriasis-only nature can make for a more candid and robust discussion.  Whichever social network psoriasis patients choose, and many choose to use both, fighting isolation and sharing one’s story with others facing similar challenges can have real benefits.  It’s not a cure, but it is a powerful coping mechanism.

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Psoriasis Cure Now is a nonprofit patient advocacy organization working to increase research funding for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, while educating patients and the public about this serious but noncontagious immune system disease.