Psoriasis: A skin condition that inflicts physical pain and emotional distress. For my entire life, I've always been an outcast. When I was three years old, I got diagnosed with psoriasis. It's a genetic disorder that makes your skin cells reproduce ten times faster than normal skin cells. Imagine peering down at yourself and just seeing flakes taking over your entire body.
The flakes are ghastly, cracking open like ancient clay, making your entire body their camp ground for multiplying. Imagine walking into a room filled with unfamiliar faces and feeling the blood rush to your cheeks while your heart bursts out of your chest because you're completely insecure knowing everybody is intensely staring at your skin. Imagine going to public school…show more content… Growing up as a kid with psoriasis is like having a contagious disease; people look at you like you're a monster; like you're infected; like you're not human. You wake up blissful. You then proceed to look in the mirror and think about how good you look today. I wake up discouraged. Then I proceed to look in the mirror, and I can't help but have my heart drop at the sight of my hideous psoriasis. I cover it up best I can but my face is still taken over by it. I use every lotion and potion on the market, but it seems to always creep back. Psoriasis is like a stalker: uncomfortable, unacceptable, and unforgettable. Every summer my friends are wearing shorts and tank tops while I wear long pants and a long sleeve T-shirt.
Koehler 2
My friends always try to get me to wear shorts, but they don't understand my pain. The pain of having people stare at me with their judgmental glares. The pain of looking down at myself only to see red patches of flaky scales covering 90% of my body. Every summer I have many close calls with heat strokes. South Carolina is considered to be one of the hottest states. In the summer time, you can see the heat waves coming off of the black tar pavement while you feel…show more content… It's just so refreshing!". Once I say that, they just look confused and walk away. But for me, it is just so much easier to be sarcastic, then have to explain the disease that I try to cover up. Have you ever walked into a room and hear people whispering about you and calling you a freak? I have. When I was little I had never experienced bullying until I started first grade. I was the new kid... The kid nobody wanted to be friends with. The first day of school, as soon as I walked in, I felt blood rush to my cheeks, my stomach started to do somersaults, and my eyes had a gloss to them. At that moment, I realized that I'm different. I'd come to school just bawling my eyes pleading with my mom to keep me home. When I sat at my desk, I'd just stay quiet and let the bullies tell me how unloved I am and what a monster I am. I took this torment for years. To this very day I still get the disgusted looks, the raised eyebrows, and the very same question I've been asked a million times, "What's wrong with you?". Bullying is a very serious social issue that occurs to this day. No matter how many lectures or seminars students sit through learning how much bullying hurts, they still do it. Many people who