A fashion model who won "America's Next Top Model" is returning to the runway after an attack of psoriasis, and is now raising awareness about the serious and common skin disease. NY1's Health reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report.

As the winner of "America's Next Top Model" and the host of her own show on Lifetime, fashion model CariDee English was at the top of her game. But for months, a flare-up with psoriasis that covered nearly 70 percent of her body put her career on hold.

"I didn't do the things I normally did. I had to stop all photo shoots. I had to stop any kind of TV hosting I did. I had to stop even doing red carpets, anything that allowed me to be photographed and anything in the public eye," says English.

Psoriasis is a chronic, hereditary, skin disease that occurs when the immune system sends the wrong signals and causes skin cells to grow too fast. English has been dealing with it since the age of five.

Yet this most-recent flare-up, English decided to pose for pictures to raise awareness about the disease. It is not contagious, but English's doctor says people with psoriasis have to be on the lookout for other serious related-disease risks like arthritis. It can even increase risk of heart disease, because inflammatory proteins causing psoriasis can contribute to narrowing of the arteries.

"It's estimated to effect about 2.5 percent of the population of the United States -- about seven million people," says Dr. Mark Lebwohl, the chairman of the Mount Sinai Medical Center's Department of Dermatology and English's specialist. "It is characterized as sharply demarcated red, scaling areas of skin which commonly occur in the scalp, [where it is] often mistaken for dandruff, elbows, knees, but it can effect the entire body surface area."

The many treatment solutions for psoriasis range from topical creams for milder conditions, to oral medication and even ultraviolet light therapy and, more recently, biologics.

English went off treatment for a while, which caused her most recent outbreak, but as a cure she tried an injectable biologic, Stelera.

"They are quite literally designer drugs. They are drugs created to attack specific, small molecules, so that you can block a tiny part of the immune system and turn off psoriasis without affecting most of the immune system," says Lebwohl.

Different treatments work differently for different patients, but biologics are working well for English.

"I really wanted to do it in a tasteful documentation to have an impact and show, 'This is me a couple months ago with my horrible psoriasis,' but to tell patients there are treatment options out there and there are so many things you can do to take control of your psoriasis," she says.

Now, English is back on the runway and spreading the message that no matter what, you can still be comfortable in your own skin.