Actor & Comedian Jon Lovitz Opens Up About Psoriasis!

According to the National Psoriasis Foundation, "Psoriasis is the most prevalent autoimmune disease in the U.S., affecting as many as 7.5 million Americans. It occurs when the immune system sends out faulty signals resulting in red, scaly patches on the skin that bleed and itch. Psoriasis is not contagious. Psoriasis frequently occurs with a range of other health concerns including Crohn's disease, diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, depression and liver disease."

As I mentioned in this recent post, August is National Psoriasis Awareness Month. I couldn't let August come and go without writing about an awesome initiative by actor and comedian Jon Lovitz. Jon is most well known for his role on Saturday Night Live. What most of his fans don't know is that Jon has also been battling psoriasis for the past 10 years.

Jon has been courageously speaking out about his experience with psoriasis and his role in an education campaign called Are You Serious?. This program is aimed at raising much needed awareness about the disease. Jon has also developed public service announcements and a web-based song parody (a spoof on Maroon 5's "This Love") with the help of his friend acclaimed director Jerry Zucker. These tools are designed to use humor to illustrate the challenges of living with psoriasis, while reinforcing the importance of having open and honest dialogue about the disease with a medical expert. By no means is this meant to poke fun at the disease. Instead, Jon hopes to illustrate the severity of it and the emotional impact as well.

For every person who shares the video a donation is being made to the National Psoriasis Foundation. Also, make sure you check out Jon's parody video by clicking this link. Jon - thank you for having the courage to speak out about this sensitive subject and break the silence. Your work is infinitely important.