Kim Kardashian has psoriasis, which causes scaly patches to flare up on your skin, particularly around your scalp, elbows, and knees. It’s chronic – meaning there’s no cure – but there are medications to help manage it.
Luckily, those who have the condition can always get together to discuss their options, treatments, tips and tricks on World Psoriasis Day (October 29th) with this year’s theme being Access for All, which champions affordable access to the right treatment at the right time, especially as research into holistic care are advancing on a daily basis.
It has also been helpful for others to look to public figures who have psoriasis such as Kim, Cara Delevingne and LeAnn Rimes, to inspire them on their own health journey. Kim, in particular, has been very candid about her struggle with psoriasis, often opening up on social media in a way that makes others feel less alone.
Here’s a thorough breakdown of every time she’s done this – including the time she said, very plainly, “psoriasis is the sh*ts.”
2005–2006: Kim has her first psoriasis flare-up
“When I was 25, I had my first psoriasis flare-up,” she wrote years later in a blog post for her sister Kourtney’s website Poosh. “I got a common cold, and since psoriasis is an autoimmune condition, this triggered it. It was all over my stomach and legs.
“Luckily, in my apartment complex at the time, my neighbour was a dermatologist. I showed it to him, and he said to come into the office and he would give me a shot of cortisone, and then hopefully it would go away (since it was my first big outbreak). I did this and my psoriasis completely went away for about five years.”
2011: Kim’s psoriasis returns in her early 30s
“[The psoriasis] came back again in my early 30s,” Kim wrote in her post on Poosh. And indeed, she receives the diagnosis on a 2011 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
“People don’t understand the pressure on me to look perfect,” she says on the show, per ABC News. “When I gain a pound, it’s in the headlines. Imagine what the tabloids would do to me if they saw all these spots?” Her mother, Kris Jenner, also has psoriasis, though Kim is the only one of her children who inherited it.
2012 and 2014: Kim’s psoriasis goes away during her two pregnancies
Kim welcomed her first daughter, North, in 2013, and her first son, Saint, in 2015. Daughter Chicago came in 2018, followed by son Psalm in 2019, both via surrogate. “When I got pregnant both times, it fully went away,” she wrote in her Poosh post. “That was amazing, but then it came back again.”
2016: Kim opens up about her self-image as it pertains to psoriasis
“Sometimes the rashes are itchy, sometimes they’re flaky,” she writes. “Mine flares up from time to time for different reasons…