Welcome to The Skyrizzide

As I anxiously approach my 40th birthday, I am quickly turning into a lizard. Each day, I awake with a new layer of skin pushing off the old, in flakes and chunks.

This morning was extremely bad. I woke up puffy and crusty, eyeing the trigger that could give me real relief. Alas, I continue.

I rarely cry about this. There have been far too many triggers for my tears, and now I at least know what is causing my skin to betray the youthful genes I was lucky enough to have until now.

Four years ago, I developed psoriasis patches on my face, primarily around my eyes. I looked like a red raccoon. It was mortifying, and nothing I tried seemed to help it. After I got on health insurance and went to a dermatologist, she diagnosed me with psoriasis. Turned out that I was allergic to many of the beauty products I had been using for years, and I had to give them up for a more clinical brand name developed for people like me.

After many months of using only Vanicream beauty items and sample-sized Opzelura ointment (kindly offered by my dermatologist because my health insurance would not approve it), the red patches went away and my skin healed. Though, it had aged me.

Cue the shitstorm that is 2025, and the red areas began appearing again around my eyes in late February. What started as a dime-sized patch above my right eye has become numerous patches around my eyes, on my cheek, and now in my hairline.

I had not begun to use any new products that were not listed in the allergy-safe application I used to reference. The only trigger that made any sense was stress. If I’d had a choice, I would have rather had shingles again. At least that wasn’t on my face.

Luckily, or so I thought, I still had a tube of Opzelura in my medicine cabinet. It did nothing but relieve the itchiness for a few hours at a time. I was lucky enough to get into my dermatologist fairly quickly at the beginning of April, after suffering for a month too long.

Immediately, they started telling me about Skyrizi, the biologic drug often seen on TV commercials, used to treat psoriasis and ulcerative colitis, both autoimmune diseases that I have been cursed with. I said yes, let’s do it. They explained how my insurance would not want to pay for it, just like the Opzelura, because it is a very new, very expensive drug. They were prepared to fight on my behalf.

Just like they said, the initial request was denied, and they are working on an appeal. I even made an appeal video, but I’m sure they did not send it to my insurance. Probably for the best.

Meanwhile, the parent company of Skyrizi has been in contact with me via a nurse and their own pharmacy. They approved me for their program that will pay for the drug entirely for up to 24 months while my doctor fights my insurance. I could not be more excited to receive my first dose via FedEx tomorrow. Mike knows that he has to sign for it and put it in the fridge because I will be at work.

Now, I understand that this is not a miracle cure. It’s not going to make the patches heal over night. They may not even heal quickly at all. The hope is that they will stop spreading, and eventually go away.

One of the main side effects that people seem to experience is extreme fatigue on injection day, so I plan to inject on my next day off work, Monday. The nurse advocate is going to video call me to make sure I know what I am doing and talk me through the process. I have never been afraid of needles, but I have also never had to inject myself with anything, so I this is going to be a curious process.

I am starting the Skyrizzide (a portmanteau of Skyrizi and Ride—like the SkyRide at Cedar Point—and look, I’m an elder millennial and everything was the shiznit fo’ rizzie back in the day) as a place to log my experience with this new medication. I’ll be writing about symptoms, side effects, what it’s like to inject myself, and there will be lots of pictures and maybe more videos.

Hop on and buckle up.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with AbbVie, Skyrizi, any particular dermatologist, nor am I a doctor or medical professional. I am just a middle aged midwestern caucasian woman who is dealing with personal health issues. Do not take anything I write or say as medical advice.