Pop icon Cyndi Lauper has teamed up with the National Psoriasis Foundation and Novartis Pharmaceuticals on the "I'm PsO Ready" campaign to spread awareness the skin disease, Reuters reported. She opened up about her personal struggle with psoriasis in the hopes that it will inspire others who suffer from the disease to speak up.
"I am usually a very vocal and open person, but I think sharing your psoriasis story is very personal and takes a lot of courage. Raising awareness and educating others is critical. It is very easy to feel isolated," Lauper said, according to Reuters. "Through 'I'm PsO Ready,' I want people living with the condition to understand that we don't have to be embarrassed, we don't have to cover up and we don't have to settle for life the way it is."
The 62-year-old singer, actress and activist first started seeing signs of her disease in 2010, according to People. The disease affected her scalp at first, then the rash and scaly skin spread all over her body.
"It was so bad, I felt like the Elephant Man," Lauper told People. "You don't have to suffer in silence or live in pain. It's not just a rash. It's a disease."
The "I'm PsO Ready" information campaign is part of the "More To PsOriasis" initiative, intended to spread awareness about the disease and allow people to communicate their struggles so that they can educate others about what life is like living with psoriasis. It also aims to encourage people suffering with the disease to seek treatment.
Watch Cyndi Lauper tell her story about her struggle with psoriasis here.
