Psoriasis
& Itchy Skin Diseases

There are many organisations offering help and support on Psoriasis and as may be expected some are good and informative whilst others are not so good and others may be blatantly commercial. I am giving a small selection here and these are offered without any prior knowledge of their organisation, purpose or set up. I am always keen to hear of such sites that you have found useful and if you care to email me I will include them under this section -but please do not send me complaints against any such organisation as I have no system to deal with these

Psoriasis  Society of Britain: offers a comprehensive range of assistance and support for sufferers. Psoriasis Society of Britain
Psoriasis Society Of Canada: an excellent site from a Canadian charity organisation for help and support with psoriasis. Psoriasis Society of Canada
Psoriasis Association Of New Zealand: The kiwi support and information society with charitable trust status. Psoriasis Association of New Zealand
Israel Psoriasis Association: An Israeli organisation for psoriasis who are seeking volunteers. Israel Psoriasis Association
The psoriasis forum of South Africa: An interesting site with links to more information and support. The psoriasis forum of South Africa

Two famous men - both victims of Psoriasis
Ben Elton - click on a book illustration to see more of Ben Elton's books When you hear the name  Ben Elton does this conjure up a talented comedian and a man of humour? Elton was born in Catford, South East London in May 1959. His family was a physicist and his mother a teacher and undoubtedly he was a product and a follower of the Oxbridge brand of alternative humour of the 1980's which he followed and adopted though he actually studied at Manchester University.   His humour was generally offbeat and satirical and he was not at all adverse to slating public figures such as Margaret Thatcher and as recently as November 2009 he had to apologise for some harsh personal remarks about the British Royal Family on a live Australian television show. His humour made him a household name through scripts of The Young Ones and The Black Adder series.  He is also a lyricist for several West End musicals and  yet another string to his bow -  he has become well known and accomplished novelist. Elton was a chronic sufferer of psoriasis for which he had several sessions of PUVA (a form of ultra violet treatment) which offered some relief but not a permanent answer. Recently, he announced that he was going to live in Australia and no doubt part of the reason for leaving his home country was the abundance of sunshine and its propensity bring relief to skin problems in Australia.
Dennis Potter - click on a book title to see more of Dennis Potter's work Any biography written about Dennis Potter (born 1935 in Gloucestershire) has got to be a work not to be missed because of Potter's unmistakable talent which made him a great popular writer of books, plays and film scripts. I remember a few years ago asking a critic friend of mine what he thought of him and his cuttingly retort was, "who wouldn't like to be paid for writing down their sexual fantasies." This was not the whole picture though, as he was a very imaginative writer who could reach out to people with wit and which was so keenly displayed in the six part series The Whistling Detective on British television. His last television interview was with Melvyn Bragg in March 1994 when he was terminally ill with cancer and sipping morphine throughout. His epilogue might well have been his request to the Channel 4 television to label this interview as " my only regret is if I die four pages too soon." He died age 59 and in his last few years suffered severely with a rare form of psoriasis.