Lauper, tried many psoriasis treatments over the years, including alternative therapies and several that didn’t lessen her symptoms. She now takes a biologic drug that effectively controls her disease, but acknowledges that each psoriasis patient’s approach to finding relief may vary.
Current psoriasis treatments range from topical skin creams and ointments to ultraviolet light therapy to biologic drugs that dampen overactive immune responses.
“I’m better now, I found a solution, but my solution may not be someone else’s solution,” said Lauper, who won a Tony Award in 2013 for writing the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical “Kinky Boots.”
“You’ve got to really do your research,” she said. “One thing I’ve found from others who had it was that they didn’t give up. They didn’t stop questioning and researching until they found something that works.”
Celebrities such as Lauper who go public about their experiences with chronic illness can help raise awareness about their particular disease and its treatments, said Dr. Jeffrey Weinberg, a former medical board member of the National Psoriasis Foundation.
“Obviously we live in a culture where celebrity is given attention, whether it be advertising or disease awareness or marketing,” said Weinberg, who is also an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
“I think it’s able to help people say, ‘If that person has [a disease] and they’re able to deal with it, I can also,’ ” he added. “Maybe they wouldn’t have thought that celebrities or people who are well-off deal with the same problems they have.”
Lauper’s upcoming projects include writing the score for the Broadway adaptation of the 1988 feature film “Working Girl” and contributing a song to the score of the Broadway musical “SpongeBob SquarePants.” She recently wrote a song, “Hope,” that depicts her own experiences with psoriasis and those of others who struggle with the same disease.
