SPECIAL SUMMER ISSUE: A DAY AT THE BEACH
Tanning by the Dead Sea or doing yoga in a Slovakian cave may cure what ails you.
By Regina Nuzzo
Special to The Times
Los Angeles Times — Health Section
May 28, 2007
BEFORE her first trip to the Dead Sea five years ago, 40-year-old Rhonda Dupras didn’t even own a pair of shorts. Suffering from severe psoriasis over her entire body, Dupras normally cloaked herself in long sleeves and long pants, hiding her red, flaky, scaly skin from curious stares and prying questions.
But after three weeks of soaking up the Dead Sea sunshine under a doctor’s care at her health hotel in Israel, Dupras’ skin was tanned, glowing, smooth — and virtually clear of flakes and patches. She cried like a baby, she says, and promptly bought shorts to celebrate. “I ended up showing off my skin to everyone. I just couldn’t help myself,” she says. Her remission lasted four giddy months. Now she tries to return for more therapy every couple of years.
