Gary Lai first noticed the red spots dotting his abdomen some 15 years ago. Then 25, he had recently graduated and was looking forward to building his life and his career. A little skin irritation hardly seemed significant.
But the little red spots spread to his back and legs, eventually covering 80 per cent of his body in a sheath of thick, reddened and scaly skin, taking his life down an unexpected and difficult path.
Lai's condition was familiar to his loved ones. His mother and her grandfather had suffered from similar patches of red, itchy skin. His family persuaded him to visit a doctor, who diagnosed him with psoriasis, a chronic, inflammatory skin condition.
According to Dr Yeung Chi-keung, honorary clinical associate professor at the University of Hong Kong, psoriasis affects 0.3 per cent of the Hong Kong population, compared to a worldwide rate of 1 to 2 per cent.
The incurable and poorly understood condition is thought to be related to a malfunction in the immune system, in which the body mistakes skin cells as a threat and attacks them. The immune system also causes the skin cells to divide much faster than the normal rate, and dead cells start to pile up on the skin surface as the body is unable to clear the excess skin cells quickly enough.
While there is a strong genetic component - as in Lai's case - psoriasis is not contagious. Doctors also believe certain triggers must be present in combination with the genetic disposition before psoriasis flares.