I Believed I was Infectious

Early 2000s: Elisabeth Bakken sits in the classroom. The skin under the clothes itches and burns. It doesn’t feel like the body fits the tight skin.

A fellow student shoots a sharp comment from the hip. It cuts like a knife through the air:

– No snow on my desk!

Elisabeth will sink into the ground. She is ashamed of her dry skin which occasionally flakes.

It is not the first time she has experienced anger due to her illness.

She was diagnosed with psoriasis at the age of two. It started as a sore on one earlobe, which has since turned into spots that spread over the body.

– When I was young, I struggled with the ugly comments. The disease took a big place in my life. It was tough, but I got through, now 29-year-old Elisabeth tells Dagbladet.

She falls silent for a second.

– Pupils didn’t want to sit next to me. They thought I was contagious.

Making art out of psoriasis

In a skirt, heels and bowed silk blouse, Elisabeth shines like a star at an art exhibition in the heart of Oslo.

Today she is happy in her skin. Some days can be more difficult than others, but she has long since accepted the chronic illness.

Make-up artist Linda Røhmen has painted flowers around her psoriasis spots. The decorations climb up the body and form beautiful works on top of the art of a skin that was there before.

The gallery she stands in is decorated with pictures of people with psoriasis. It is the photographer Tøri Gjendal who has immortalized them, and the Psoriasis and Eczema Association Young is behind the event.

The idea is to break prejudices and to inform people about the stigmatized skin disease.

Elisabeth’s smile stretches from ear to ear:

– This evening is so important. We want to show that affected skin is beautiful skin, she comments.

Lack of knowledge

By her side stands 36-year-old Kine Bekkengen, blooming – she, too, with springing rosebuds adorning her skin.

Kine was a teenager when she was diagnosed with psoriasis. She was insecure and received many hurtful comments.

– A health nurse said it was because I had red hair and freckles. Lack of knowledge was a frequent occurrence. Fortunately, it is different now, she tells Dagbladet.

A showdown with the media

Today, Kine is a self-confident lady with a bone in her nose. She wears the clothes she wants, is in the swimming pool and on the beach.

But it hasn’t always been like this: Before, she could be called insane for wearing black clothes. The dandruff then became visible.

Adult Chinese wish young Chinese had learned to live with the skin disease earlier. She also wishes there was more information available – both for her and those around her.

Tremors were a serious illness

The 36-year-old wants to settle a settlement with Dagbladet and other media that write about the “quick fixer”. She believes it can make people feel ashamed of having a chronic illness.

– Exhibitions like this are important. By showing off, we normalize, and that’s what everyone who is insecure needs: Representation, she says, clapping her arms.

Around her, photographs of naked bodies with spots in various shapes fill the room.

– It is perfectly fine to live with psoriatic skin and love it for what it is. I wear my differences with pride, she exclaims.

Offended

Marte Øverås is the evening’s third model with a skirt and bow blouse.

As a child, it was pointed out that she was different, but she never felt that way.

In her teens, she went on treatment trips and got to know others who had psoriasis.

– When I realized that several people in my local community had psoriasis, but hid it, I was offended. There is nothing to hide, says Lofotværingen to Dagbladet.

Marte copes with the psoriasis well. She believes the disease has motivated her to live healthily, and says it has given her a stronger psyche.

– Distorted image

Both Kine, Elisabeth and Marte believe social media and retouching can harm young people and adults with skin diseases. But also those without.

– It gives a distorted picture of reality, says Marte.

Elisabeth believes that it becomes problematic if young people think that flawless skin is the norm.

Punished for profession: – Men say I’m weak

Kine wishes skin, body and good self-esteem were a larger part of the school curriculum:

– If young people never get to see different types of skin, skin diseases and inequalities, they won’t have the basis to love themselves either. We need knowledge, she says.

She believes that retouching away unevenness in the skin can shame skin types that deviate from this.

– It’s okay to feel that it’s awkward to have an illness – but to make it a shame, I hope we can get over it soon.

Mentally heavy

In study from 2016 investigated prejudice and stigma in psoriasis patients. There, 45 percent said that they have been asked if they are contagious. 40 per cent said they are stared at in public, and a whopping 60 per cent answered that they feel less attractive.

So there is still a lot of shame and stigma attached to the disease – something PEF and PEF-young want to do something about:

Strangers say: – What has happened?

Mari Øvergaard, general secretary of PEF-young and the Psoriasis and Eczema Association (PEF) tells Dagbladet that living with a visible difference can be a psychological burden.

Øvergaard is proud of what PEF ung has achieved with its body art project.

– They have tackled something that most people with skin diseases recognise. This is a major campaign we have been working on recently.

Furthermore, she says that PEF wants to highlight the psychological burden of having a visible skin disease in a society that cultivates body pressure – something they will continue to do in the future. Because the fight is far from over.