Mersadies La Caze noticed red spots on her back when she was 6 months pregnant and initially thought it was a common rash. But within a few weeks, the lesions spread across much of her body and began affecting her skin, rest, and emotional health.
The woman from Lexington, Kentucky, came to describe the sensation as if the shower water were setting her skin on fire. After giving birth, the problem did not go away, and a biopsy revealed that she had generalized pustular psoriasis, a rare, severe, and potentially dangerous inflammatory disease.
Treatment was administered intravenously with a specific medication, and her skin improved in about 1 month. Mersadies now seeks to raise awareness so that others do not downplay persistent symptoms. Her story is striking because a “simple rash” ended up changing her life.
