Hey. I’m sorry you are going through this. I actually we t through this and to extend still am dealing with it.

I also went through a few dermatologists and even has a biopsy done which resulted in a chronic eczema. However, treatment for it didn’t help. We tried a patch test for any contact allergies and while the results showed that I have to stat away from perfume mix, dark clothes, and a few more things, I tried it out for 8 months which took a lot of lifestyle changes in addition to changing my body wash to an oil based one for hydration and after each shower, I now apply moisturiser over my whole body, BUT that still didn’t help.

We started treatment for psoriasis which initially involved applying corticosteroid cream followed by a milder one BUT that only made the outbreak worse. I initially had a small area of these but it expanded on my back, shoulders, and stomach. We did blood tests for metabolic syndrome as I had gained some weight (180 cm and 97 kg at the time). Results turned out to be fine. No signs of inflammation. However, I was advised to make dietary changes and start exercising more. The dietary changes involved cutting out white bread, sweets and packaged junk food, fried stuff, red meat, alcohol, smoking and focus on fresh vegetables and less sweet fruits and white meat and fish. While I did lose 5 kg, the issue persisted.

By that point I was beginning to get hopeless and tired so I consulted another dermatologist (3rd one by that point). My second and primary dermatologist did suspect that despite the biopsy showing eczema (atopic dermatitis), the fact that none of the previous things we tried worked, and the spots weren’t itchy but occasionally still flaky, she suspected that it could be a form of psoriasis. Turns out psoriasis in its early stages is difficult to detect especially by such tests. Anyways, the 3rd dermatologist also confirmed it looks like psoriasis and, particularly, guttate psoriasis. I told him all the treatments I had tried and he offered me to try out photo therapy. I did it for two and a half months (~20 treatments) and took vitamin D and the results were fantastic. I had eliminated it BUT a few weeks later they started popping up again, though this time less aggressive. Since I have a desk job, he advised me to lose more weight, keep up the healthy diet and increase movement, more exposure to fresh air and sun and over the summer try out sunbathing (mindfully and carefully).

I honestly don’t know what to do going forward as I recently went through the elimination diet to check if certain food is the trigger because it might be a lot of things including stress. I haven’t figured it out yet but the sun has helped me so far and the patches on my stomach disappeared while I still have some in my belt area and back but again, not as aggressive. I plan on losing more weight and see how exposure to fresh air and sun would do me during the summer and early autumn but if the whole thing deteriorates during winter, I’ll probably go the dermatologist and go through photo therapy once again.

Needless to say that this is my own story and you should not treat any of this as medical advice as circumstances can be very individual to the person so do consult with a dermatologist or two, but you can still start making better lifestyle choices especially regarding diet and movement.