118 CHA

Within the framework of World Suppurative Hydradenitis Day (HS), which is celebrated on June 6, the Association of Asendhi Patients and the UCB biopharmaceutics are joined to present “The Planet of Carla”.

It is a campaign to promote the visibility and diagnosis of this chronic pathology that causes the continuous appearance of inflammatory, abscesses and fistulas in the skin’s rubbing areas, and that significantly affects the daily, social and labor life of patients.

Suppurative hydramentitis is more than a chronic skin inflammatory disease and can become a trip to isolation. Some of the main symptoms of the disease are pain, bad smell, suppuration or mobility affectation.

Symptoms that often patients feel that they aggravate the stigma existing towards them. However, their painful injuries transcend the physical impact: it is calculated that 30% of patients suffer from depressive states and 52%, anxiety.

All this also adds to the impact of the disease on patient’s self -esteem, which In almost half of all cases they claim to feel fear of social rejection or the reaction of their partners Because of the physical impact of the disease.

Because of this impact, patients often take refuge in their own inner world, away from their daily lives. Misunderstanding, pain and absence of responses to A diagnosis that can take up to 10 years They create a barrier that separates them from the outside world, relegating them to an inhospitable and lonely place.

“The planet of Carla” invites the citizen to explore that inner world with a campaign that manages to transform the crudeness of HS symptoms into a visual and emotional trip.

Based on the real testimony of an Asendhi patient, the campaign converts difficult experiences to show visual metaphors that allow better to understand the day -to -day life of these patients. Specifically, we can see the impact that the disease can have at usual moments in any person’s life: from an appointment to waiting for a bus. Moments in which the disease and its physical and psychological impact make the protagonist, Carla, be isolated from abroad and use her inner world.

“For years I felt alone in my own world, without anyone really understanding what it means to live with Hs. This campaign gives voice to all those who have felt invisible and open a window so that others understand our daily reality. It is exciting to see how our experience transforms into something that can help so many people to feel understood and less alone,” says Silvia Lobo, president of Asendhi.

The key to good management of this type of patients is based on an early diagnosis and a personalized and comprehensive treatment of the disease4. However, because of the diagnosis delay, Almost 70% of patients believe that they had less physical sequelae of having had an earlier diagnosis.

Thus, “the planet of Carla” also calls for the importance of moving towards a better diagnosis and approach to the disease to, ultimately, offer people who live with it a full life and the highest quality of life.