A mother is begging strangers not to fear that her psoriasis-suffering toddler daughter has a contagious disease.

Ashley Nagy, 29, has shared photos of 19-months-old Charlie to raise awareness of the skin condition after revealing parents drag their children away from her in case they catch something.

She also explained how her and husband Andrew, 32, have been accused by strangers of letting their daughter get severely sunburnt.

The mother-of-two from Queen Creek in Arizona, US, says she is combating the stares and cruel comments by kissing and cuddling her child in public.

Strangers can be very cruel about it, when weve taken her to the playground the parents of other children have dragged their kids away thinking shes contagious, she said.

Most people move away, afraid they are going to catch whatever she has or move their kids away so she cant get to close or play with them.

My response is normally to pick Charlie up and kiss her so that people can see she is not contagious and being near her isnt going to hurt anyone.

A few people have made comments, some ladies said that I was a bad parent and couldnt believe I let her get so sunburned.

Others have said they cant believe we have her out in public, but these are just very ignorant people so we ignore them.

The little girl was diagnosed with psoriasis at four-months-old after the small red dots that appeared all over her skin, developed into large welts that would peel and flake off.

The disease that affects more than 125 million people worldwide and flare ups are often brought on by stress, illness and food intolerances.

Ashley, from Queen Creek in Arizona, US, said: Psoriasis flare-ups happen sporadically, shell be completely free and then in a matter of hours her skin will be covered from head to toe.

They start off as wide, raised, red spots that then look like little whiteheads, after that they dry up to flake, crack and peel from her body.

And the real estate agent says she refuses to hide her childs condition.

I dont put her in turtlenecks or hide her, I have her in shorts and am not ashamed of who she is and walk with pride, I know shes beautiful, she said.

While she has psoriasis, it doesnt define her because she has such a great personality shes bubbly, funny, very sweet and at times shes freaking hilarious.

If Im pushing her around in a stroller and see people staring at her, looking at her in pity or trying to move their children away Ill lightly touch her face and kiss her on the cheek.

I want people to see that even though she has psoriasis they dont need to be afraid to touch and love her, I hope they see shes not contagious and are more compassionate.

Charlie was two months old when she had her first psoriasis flare-up.Doctors believe she is one of the youngest patients to have such a severe case.

Ashley said: The rash on her stomach looked like tiny little dots and despite getting antibiotics and more it didnt seem to clear, only getting worse.

We were told she was one of the youngest patients with psoriasis that the dermatologist had ever seen.

Flare-ups can be caused by food, stress, skin trauma to many different things, even teething and toothache has caused her whole body to flare-up.

Due to the rarity of little Charlie having such an extreme form of psoriasis at such a young age, her parents nickname her their unicorn baby.

They hope their cute phrasing will help to show others the disease is not something to fear.

Ashley said: While we were in hospital, doctors, volunteers and nurses kept running in and out to observe her, because it was so rare to have psoriasis at her age.

I decided to name her my unicorn baby and referred to the skin problems as unicorn spots because shes so rare and special.

I chose to compare it to a unicorn as I thought it was something positive and less intimidating, as she gets older Im sure it will help her see that her skin is beautiful.

Her parents combat the itchy and painful flare-ups that cover her head to toe with a specialist two-hour bathing routine.

In addition to putting her on a gluten and dairy-free diet, with a daily cod liver oil and aloe smoothie, which has stopped her from needing oral medication.

Ashley said: Our nightly routine is bathing her in essential oils, occasionally we use bleach or oatmeal, then a specialist psoriasis shampoo.

Then we lotion her right away so her skin doesnt crack with organic butter bees wax, that has essential oils and other ingredients.

From there, we put her in an oversized cotton t-shirt so that the ingredients can soak into her skin and prevent flare-ups from friction that can be caused when her clothing is too tight.

Ashley is fundraising to help cover her Charlies medical bills, check-ups and treatment, as well as donating to the Phoenix Childrens Hospital who treated her during a bad flare-up.

It was really hard to get our insurance to cover her full medical bills as they have not experienced such a young case before and so have no other cases to compare her to.

You can donate by visiting Ashleys GoFundMe page here.

Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin covered with silvery scales.

The patches normally appear on your elbows, knees, scalp and lower back but can appear anywhere on the body.

It can start at any age.

For most, psoriasis develops before the age of 35 and the condition affects men and women equally.

The severity of the condition varies from person to person, for some causing a minor irritation, while for others it has a major impact on their quality of life.

Psoriasis is a long-lasting, or chronic, condition that involves periods when a sufferer will have no symptoms or mild symptoms, followed by more severe outbreaks.

The condition occurs when the process by which the body produces skin cells is accelerated.

Normally the cells are replaced by the body every three to four months, but in psoriasis the process only lasts about three to seven days.

The resulting build-up of skin cells creates the patches associated with psoriasis.

While the condition is not fully understood, it is thought the increased production of skin cells is related to a problem with a persons immune system.

For those suffering with the condition, their immune system attacks healthy skin cells by mistake.

Psoriasis can run in families and there is thought to be a genetic element to the condition.

Many sufferers will experience symptoms following a certain event, a trigger. A trigger can include injury to a persons skin, throat infections and using certain medications.

The condition is not contagious, so cannot be spread from person to person.

While there is no cure, a range of treatments can be used to improve symptoms and the appearance of the affected skin patches.

In most cases, a sufferer will be prescribed creams and ointments to ease the symptoms.

If these prove ineffective, doctors may opt for phototherapy treatment. It involves exposing the skin to certain types of ultraviolet light.

In the most severe cases, treatments such as oral or injected medicines that work throughout the body are used.

Source: NHS Choices

Read more:

Arizona mother shares photo of psoriasis-suffering toddler - Gears Of Biz