I’ve always loved to travel (and even majored in geography in college!) but psoriasis often got in the way. Skin care on the road felt overwhelming with many medications and moisturizers to pack, and the stress of travel often caused a psoriasis flare.
In the past decade I’ve seen an improvement in my psoriasis symptoms with biologic treatments and have felt more confident about traveling. But the COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020 came at an inopportune time, just when I’d started a four-month sabbatical from work and had booked several trips.
A vacation in Hawaii with my wife to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, a journey to China with my parents: Sadly, we had to cancel everything.
Traveling After a COVID-19 Pause Meant Relearning Some Skills
When the COVID-19 pandemic began to ease, I started thinking about traveling again. This year I’ve made five trips to Southern California to see parents and taken a father-son trip to Seattle, patient advocacy trips to Philadelphia and Chicago, and another trip to Chicago for work.
At first, I felt afraid to travel knowing I risked contracting COVID-19 or other infectious diseases in airports, crowds, or meetings. Wearing a KN95 mask in those higher-risk situations helped ease those concerns.
Now that I’m traveling again, I had to relearn how to care for my psoriasis on the go in order to avoid flare-ups.
If you’re gearing up to travel — to see family, take a vacation, or attend a work event — here are five strategies that work for me that could also work for you.
1. Don’t Go Anywhere Without Moisturizer
While traveling, always keep your favorite moisturizer with you. These days I don’t go anywhere without a small container of Cetaphil cream that I get from Costco. It came in handy on my flight from Sacramento to Philadelphia when my skin became irritated.
I hadn’t moisturized since early in the morning, and the heated air on the airplane exacerbated my skin dryness and discomfort. Mid-flight I decided to take my container of moisturizer with me to the lavatory.
A layer of cream helped my psoriasis feel more comfortable the rest of the flight.
2. Keep Medication With You in a Backpack or Tote
Bringing medication with you in a backpack or tote bag is important for many reasons. For one thing, if you’re flying, you will have these essential supplies with you in your carry-on in case the airline loses your bag.
Still, with all the skin-care products I need, including some larger moisturizer containers or topical medication tubes, the load can get heavy and cumbersome. It’s a hassle to have all my skin-care products with me if I’m taking a day trip or am away from my hotel for any extended period of time.
One strategy that has helped: In addition to my trick of using small containers for moisturizers, I ask my dermatologist to prescribe small tubes of topical medication.
A couple of my topical ointments usually come in 15- or 20-gram tubes, perfect for my backpack. If there isn’t a tube that size available, I’ll put some ointment in a small plastic pill case with a screw top (like these from Walmart) to take with me.
If you use a biologic that needs refrigeration, be sure to ask your doctor or the manufacturer about the best way to travel with it.
3. Pack Comfortable Clothing That You Can Layer
Packing your most comfortable clothes can bring relief during times of skin discomfort. Just before leaving for my four-day work trip to Chicago, my psoriasis and eczema both flared. I have clothes that I look better in, but they don’t fit or breathe as well as my go-to psoriasis clothes — so those are the ones that I brought.
Loose-fitting layers gave me flexibility as I moved between frigid outside temperatures and warm hotel and meeting rooms. Wearing slightly larger-waisted cotton slacks with a belt meant the psoriasis on my waist and legs became less irritated.
4. Schedule Rest and Breaks
Taking ample breaks during travel reduces stress and gives you a margin to care for your psoriasis. With conferences or work trips I often don’t have many opportunities to rest during the day, which can worsen symptoms.
Once, when trying to make the most of a one-hour conference break in Philadelphia, I jogged over a mile through wind and drizzle to get to Independence National Historical Park. After taking a quick photo with the Liberty Bell, I felt overjoyed that I could check it off my bucket list.
But afterward I felt especially fatigued. That evening I chose to leave an optional conference gathering early to rest in my hotel room and give my psoriasis extra care.
Vacations are another area where I’ve also learned to add breaks. I typically like to schedule every minute of every hour with activities so I can see as many sights as possible. But my psoriasis and overall health (and my relationships with my family members) do much better when I keep a calmer pace.
5. Use a Few Special Stress-Reducing Tricks
Reducing the stress of travel can decrease the chance your psoriasis will worsen. Stress is a common psoriasis trigger, and psoriasis itself can cause stress. Although I’ve found that travel provides a refreshing antidote to daily life and a much-needed change of scenery, it can also be stressful catching flights or adjusting to a new culture or situation.
One trip involved an 18-hour day that felt like it would never end. Just when I was about to head out to the Sacramento airport for my flight to Chicago, I found out that the airline had rescheduled my departure time for 6 a.m. the next morning. Once I arrived in Chicago the drive from the airport to the hotel took over an hour. I made it to the hotel 10 minutes before my first meeting started there and didn’t get to rest until after dinner.
A few stress reducers helped me manage that long day. Knowing how early I’d need to leave home for that 6 a.m. flight, I made a list of what I still needed to pack when I woke up that morning. When I arrived at the airport, I utilized my TSA PreCheck status to breeze through security so I could get breakfast before boarding. During the flight and the drive to the hotel I slept as much as I could.
Every trip comes with its own set of stressors. Planning ahead, staying flexible, and making contingency arrangements can reduce that stress and the possibility of worsening your psoriasis.
You can read more about my experiences on my website, PsoHoward.
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