provide treatment that cleared her 100% for the first time.
Alisha shares that since being with this doctor, she has been on five effective Biologics (injections that help control symptoms when other treatments fail). She attributes this successful treatment to this doctor’s experience working with different skin tones and working on clinical trials.
Alisha wants people suffering from psoriasis to find a support group and learn to advocate for themselves. Ask the doctors questions, including “how involved they’ve been in clinical studies?” Inform the doctors of other symptoms, even if they seem to be unrelated. Share information about all medications, even if you’re no longer taking them. Tell the doctors everything. Let them know how psoriasis is impacting you mentally and emotionally. “Show your body and if they don’t look, leave.”
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Alisha has a message for the public: “Be open to learning about psoriasis. Be willing to get an understanding and stand up for those suffering with it.”
She also has a message for doctors: “Be more diligent in treating all ethnicities.” Alisha urges doctors to involve darker-skinned people in their research. She says they should “step up and speak on behalf of patients when they see inconsistencies in images for clinical trials.”
She also hopes more doctors will tell families about Camp Discovery. A free camp for children with chronic skin conditions that she only learned about 5 years ago. She’s been volunteering ever since.
Alisha has been very involved in helping to improve the lives of psoriasis patients. She has had an audience with members of Congress requesting that they change the rules for STEP Therapy, which would decrease the number of steps required to get treatment.
Currently, Alisha is working on a clinical study called “Light Therapy.” To date, her most important work is with Determi-Nation, a health movement led by healthcare providers, patients, and advocates working together to stop the cycle of suffering for people of color living with psoriatic disease.
For information on Determi-Nation, click here.