Kim Kardashian West reveals horror of psoriasis battle

Kim Kardashian has shared how the auto-immune condition has impacted her life. Photos / Instagram

Kim Kardashian has opened up on her eight-year battle with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

The 38-year-old has written an essay for sister Kourtney Kardashian's website Poosh in which she shares about how the auto-immune condition has impacted her life.

"It's been 13 years since I experienced my first psoriasis flare-up … I am the only child my mom passed down her auto-immune issue to. Lucky me, lol," she said.

"When I was 25, I had my first psoriasis flare-up. I got a common cold, and since psoriasis is an auto-immune 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."

Kardashian tested positive for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Photo / Getty Images

Kardashian said it came back in her early thirties.

"I was living in New York — I will never forget it, since it was our DASH store opening in November. I was wearing this glitzy sequin dress from our store to the opening and I came home afterwards and was itching. It seemed like it came out of nowhere, but I thought that my skin was just sensitive toward the dress's material," she said. "And then I came home to LA for Mason's first birthday party and my mom looked at my leg and said it was definitely psoriasis."

Kardashian said "this is when my real psoriasis journey began."

She said she has a spot on her right leg that is constantly inflamed and while her mum, Kris Jenner, was able to treat it with UV treatments from sun beds, that didn't work for the reality star.

"Earlier this year is when it got extremely bad — it covered my whole face and a majority of my entire body," she said.

Kardashian said she then started to battle psoriatic arthritis.

"One night, I woke up to use the rest room and I physically couldn't pick up my phone. I thought it was strange but maybe I just slept on my hands weird and I was so tired, I didn't need to be checking my phone at that hour anyway. I fell right back asleep," she said. "I woke up that morning and I still couldn't pick up my phone. I was freaking out — I couldn't even pick up a toothbrush, my hands hurt so badly. I had worked out the day before and we did an arm day, so I thought maybe one of the exercises strained my hand."

She went to the doctors and tested positive for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

"I went back three days later, which felt like the longest three days of my life! It turns out those tests were a false positive and I did not have rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. I had psoriatic arthritis."

Kardashian said she gets some relief from reducing the stress in her life after trying "every ointment, cream, serum, and foam you can possibly imagine".

"With all the stress in life, I try to make sure I take time for myself so that I am centred and keep my stress to a minimum," she said.