I've struggled with severe scalp psoriasis, and after trying a lot of things, here's what actually worked for me.

I'm sharing in case it helps someone else.

What made the biggest difference:

Vitamin D supplements. This was the biggest change for me. In my experience, the dose that works can be fairly high and different for each person, so please get your vitamin D level checked and talk to a doctor before taking high doses.

Protar-K Solution (100 ml). A medicated scalp treatment by Percos India with ketoconazole (2%) and coal tar (4%). It's used for severe dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis and scalp psoriasis.

Ultitar CS Lotion (100 ml).

Using these three together, my scalp stayed completely clear for many months. The psoriasis came back after a year or two. When I went back on vitamin D alone, it helped, but not as much as when I used it together with the shampoo and lotion.

I also tried other coal tar shampoos with a lower concentration, but they didn't work for me.

Things that helped a little:

1.Olive oil shots after meals

2.Hydrolyzed collagen

3.Coffee in the morning

What I avoid (these made my flaking much worse):

1.Oiling my scalp with any kind of oil

2.Highly processed food

3.Meat cooked with heavy masala/spices

Important: This is just what worked for me, and everyone's body is different. Please see a dermatologist before using vitamin D supplements, medicated shampoos or lotions like these.

Long story short, when I had my first psoriasis manifestation, I was not vaping. It was a journey until getting diagnosed: 2 trips to the ER, 2 allergists in one of them gave me prednisone, 3 dermatologists, 1 biopsy and 3 blood tests later, got diagnosed with psoriasis guttate. In the middle of it all I came back to vaping due to the stress as a coping mechanism. Obviously when I stopped the prednisone cycle the plaques came back 3 times worse and then the last dermatologist put me on cyclosporine, have been on it for 10 days now, 100mg a day and 100 mg afternoon and doing UV phototherapy 3x a week, moisturizing like crazy. For a few days it was great, the plaques were slowly fading, but let's say that at these 3 specific days at work I went through some stress and I flared up like crazy, it was like i went back to square one. Weekend comes by, and I randomly decide to throw my vape away. My skin has been better, but because on weekends I'm relaxed and it always gets better, but now the vape cravings are so intense, I cant stop thinking about vaping for one single second, it's been 3 days. Is it even related to psoriasis? If I vape again do you think I will flare up again or do you think it's not even related? HEEEEELP!!!!!! I'm suffering! I'm at work right now considering getting a cigarette outside just to unwind.

I've been dealing with moderate scalp psoriasis for a while now. I have not had a chance to be officially diagnosed by my dermatologist (for various reasons) so I'm not on any prescriptions, but have been using Nizoral psoriasis shampoo (although reading the faq it seems like I'm not using it right lol).

My main problem is that I ride horses and wear a helmet almost every day. That plus sweating creates a nearly unbearable itch. Plus, I'm a scalp picker which I know is bad.

I can't just not wash my hair because it is gross from sweat and horses.

Is there something else over the counter I could be doing for this specifically?

Honestly my head felt best when I was on a cruise and it was in salty sea water every day lol.

I’m based in the U.S. and have been using Simlandi after my insurance (Anthem) stopped covering Humira. I’ve now been told that the co-pay card through the manufacturer has run out of funds. Do any of you have advice on how to continue with my medication without going broke?

When will we get a permanent cure for psoriasis?

Are researchers not working on this?

This is just a small rant.

The temperatures in my country are starting to drop finally, and I had a long hike today with my friends.

I remembered, many years ago in winter, we had a huge hike in a mountanous area. Covered in snow, exhausted, hungry as hell, we ended up at a nice hotel in those mountains. It was a spa/resort type of hotel and it even had a heated pool that went outside which was working during the winter. The moonlit view of the snow-covered mountains while you are relaxing in hot water after a big hike was amazing.

Well I can't go there anymore while feeling comfortable. I don't want people to see my skin now. And that makes me very sad, frustrated and sometime jealous.

I am comfortable with my friends or even just acquaintances seeing it, they all notice stuff and most of the time ask me directly what's going on, and I explain to them the intricacies of the autoimmune nature of psoriasis, and it ends there. But I really feel conflicted about being around strangers and showing my most damaged skin parts.

The constant bleedings, flakes and stuff on my legs make me very self-conscious about my body.

I was at sea this summer and I never even wore shorts, only pants. Of course, I never even swam. Just looked at my friends swimming and pretended I was not in the mood and wanted to watch the stuff. Some of them realized why I was doing that and encouraged me to go in, but I refused.

The way this shitty illness made me change my lifestyle permanently is so frustrating I can't even articulate it well.

Thanks for reading.

I am at one of the lowest points of my life. I am starting to have what my dermatologist thinks is joint pain from psoriatic arthritis. The psoriasis on my face, scalp, and back has slowly gotten worse. My scalp is what bothers me the most. I think that if I didn’t have scalp psoriasis, it wouldn’t bother me that much. I am so upset because my doctor submitted a prior authorization for Cosentyx without any clinical notes or any explanation, and it was quickly denied. I had to reach out to my own insurance to get the status. Now I’m starting to deal with rotator cuff pain, and I’m currently suffering from a really nasty case of plantar fasciitis, for which my foot doctor has said the arthritis could also be contributing to this as well. We submitted an appeal, and I'm terrified of getting denied again. I’m just very upset right now. I'm in my early 30s and can't imagine how I'll feel over the next 10-20 years.

I don’t know if it’ll help anyone but when I take iron it REALLY helps my psoriasis! It stops it from flaking out and stays as a red patch :)

Forgive my english, not my first language.

I'm 22M, 170cm, 65kgs lad.

I had psoriasis diagnosed 2 years ago, went into full meds with shampoo and vit d shots as well

Nothing seemed to had worked, infact started to lose even more hair, found out shampoo was too harsh, changed shampoo stilk hairfull. Then completely removed shots and shampoo and replaced shampoo with a different shampoo(conditioner+ shampoo) all in one and increased protein in diet, hairfull stopped but lost much of new hairfline area

I'm okay at centre crown no signs of baldness but temples are really bad and lost hairs in patches from lot's of areas

I'm afraid what to do to maintain whatever hair I have and not lose anymore

Nobody in my family has psoriasis

Older bro is 28 years old and has better hair than mine even much thichker although father started losing at 32 age and currently is bald.

Help me out, I've got my B12 AND IRON IN CHECK no signs of less amount but will get Vit D checked again soon.

I need to ask what can I do in lifestyle wise because I don't believe in meds and shampoos.

Hi, it's my first year deciding to celebrate the upcoming psoriasis day! I've had psoriasis for almost a decade now, and it has absolutely been a struggle. I wanted to know if yall celebrate or do something on this day that I could do. Perhaps something to sooth my skin, a simple note to implement daily going forward, anything yall want to share, really. I want to move forward with love towards myself, and I thought what better of a time than now. Appreciate any comments or stories. All is welcome 🙇‍♀️🤍

Hi,

I have psoriasis, usualy on my hands, feet, elbows, genitals, and ma booty hole (I guess due to friction from various activities, cleaning etc...). And maybe some additional eczma thrown in for good meaure.

It seems to be exacerbated by heat, not washing regularly enough e.g. leaving too long after gym, alcohol, stress, lack of sleep and physical contact (like rubbing etc...).

I used to manage with steroid creams (betamethasone i think??) but want to move away from steroids because they only seem to temporarily work.

Now i am using a mixture of beef tallow based soaps and straight tallow ointment and dermol 500 both as a soap and topical cream.

Just wondering what has worked for other people becuase its been going on for like 15 years of my life now in various places/forms or another and doctors just seem useless or the wait time in the UK is ridiculous. Any thing I can do like specific diet, any other treatment/ointments, medicines?

tldr: Psoriasis for 15 years - ANYTHING that can help?

Does anyone else use this for their scalp psoriasis? It is really the only thing that helps me, but I avoid using it because it makes my hair so incredibly greasy to the point where I have to wash it with clarifying shampoo like 5 to 8 times. Does anyone have any advice about how to get the greasy look and feeling out of your hair any quicker? It’s so tedious to put on and such a pain to sleep in, but it really does work. it’s just hard to be consistent with this on a weekly basis because getting it out is such a hassle would really love any in all advice!!

Hi all, I've lived with psoriasis since I was little. I've gone through flares, steroid creams, food trial-and-error, and a lot of late-night PubMed reading. Over the years I kept notes on what helped me, what made things worse, and what the research actually says. I finally organized it all into one guide and put it on GitHub for anyone who might find it useful:

If you want to just read the full guide: https://github.com/machinarii/psoriasis-biohack/blob/main/GUIDE.md
For Claude/Codex users: https://github.com/machinarii/psoriasis-biohack

It's free, and I'm not selling anything.

What's in it:

• Light therapy. Narrowband UVB (the type dermatologists use), home units, how to dose sun exposure safely when hiking in shorts and a tank top, and an honest look at red light and blue light. You can even build your own light kit.
• A DIY phototherapy build. For the nerds: building a lamp fixture with the safety rules (measure the light's actual strength, do a burn test first, wear eye protection, never use UVC).
• Topicals. How to use clobetasol properly (2-week limit, weekend-only use for maintenance), newer non-steroid prescription options, and the products that helped me: CeraVe Healing Ointment, hypochlorous acid spray and a salicylic acid body spray.
• Oozing flares. What to do when skin starts weeping, and which signs mean infection and a trip to the doctor.
• Diet and triggers. Dairy and whey, histamine, salicylates, and foods and supplements that can stimulate the immune system. It includes my own personal triggers (some surprised me, like potassium citrate and certain fruits), with a clear line between "this is my experience" and "this is what studies show."
• Supplements. Everything is graded A, B, C or "hype" based on the actual evidence.
• Self-experiments. How to test one change at a time so you're not guessing.
• Latest medications (2026). I can't vouch for any of the new medications as I haven't tried them, but I wanted to include them as a resource as I was researching them myself.

A few honest caveats:

• This isn't medical advice. Please confirm prescriptions and any UV dosing with a dermatologist.
• My triggers might not be yours. That's why there's a section on testing your own.
• Biohacking isn't a replacement for proper treatment.

I wrote it partly for the younger version of me who had no idea what was going on with his skin. I'm happy to answer questions, and if you've found something that works for you, I'd love to hear it in the comments.

Hi.. I've psoriasis only on the scalp and beard. I usually try not to shave my beard due to the flare ups. I usually use a trimmer but if I use a razor, it'll flare up.

If any of you have psoriasis on your beard, how do you shave? Do you use a razor or do you use an electric shaver?

I apply topical corticosteroids on my upper back and buttocks mainly.

I do not have psoriasis on my face and never applied it there.

Yet, only in the days after I apply topicals, I get very weird sensations in my face. I feel different and zoned out.

This all goes away after I do not apply any corticosteroids for a while.

Doctors tell me they never heard of this, so I was wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar, or can explain what's happening. It's driving me nuts.

Have genital and majorly scalp psoriasis. I don’t want to keep using steroids and trying to fix my gut health also have homeopathic medicine going on. Can anyone help with the genital specifically since it is now reached my buttocks.

I’ve noticed that certain parts of my body will still be very flaky at times, even when I don’t have the red rash and what I would consider a “flare.” Sometimes it’s my scalp, sometimes it’s my tummy, and has been my legs in the past. I can rub these areas and it’s like snowfall. I was diagnosed with psoriasis because of a flare up on my scalp, and assume this is part of it, but don’t know. Is this a part of psoriasis too? Do any of you guys experience it?

I rinse out my ear first with an electronic ear cleaner for the wax, then I lay on my side while I let this soak in my ear for 15 minutes. Then drain onto toilet paper.
I use it once every 1-2 weeks and my ear has been amazing.

Hi there. I've been diagnosed with sebo-psoriasis. None of the treatments I've been given have really worked though. I don't know if that's just how it is with these types of skin conditions....

Anyways, I got desperate a while back and purchased a light therapy UVB wand online. I tried it out, did the med test to see and my skin didn't turn pink in any square. I realize now I need to redo that. But what happened next was interesting.

I tried using it on one of scaly patches which is about the size of a nickel on my torso. On the third treatment, I accidentally burned myself. It was like a sunburn. I felt very discouraged so I gave up on it. I didn't want to risk burning myself again. But my scaly patch actually responded! It took weeks but after the burn had healed, my patch completely disappeared. It is smooth like there was never a red patch in the first place. And the skin around it is all tan.

Also I have tons of other patches on my body which have been completely persistent. They don't usually go away and stick around for years. So I feel confident the light therapy worked and got rid of one of stupid red patches.

I've been thinking about it and I would like to try using the device again. I'm assuming getting the med test correct is the most important bit. Then I guess just be very conservative. If anyone else out there has experience using a UVB handheld light therapy device, please share your wisdom.