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A young mother claimed that her hair fell out and her skin began to ‘ooze’ after using eczema creams.
Emily Gardiner-Walsh, 21, from Southampton, Hampshire, has suffered from this skin condition since she was a baby and received topical steroid creams to treat it.
But it wasn’t until 2022 that the nurse began to suffer from the ‘painful’ side effects. of the drug just three months after giving birth to her son.
He experienced red blotchy patches of skin on his face ‘like sunburn’ that spread all over his body.
A young mother (pictured) claimed her hair fell out and her skin began to ‘ooze’ after using eczema creams.
Emily went to the doctors and had blood tests, which found the cause to be the creams she had been using for two decades.
After he stopped using them, he suffered topical steroid withdrawal (TSW), where his skin started ‘oozing and weeping’, becoming cracked and dry, as well as swelling up.
Emily said: ‘The pain was like my whole body was on fire.
“The nerve pain was the worst, it felt like a bunch of electric shocks going through my body and I couldn’t sit still.
Emily Gardiner-Walsh, 21, of Southampton, Hampshire, pictured before her skin began to ‘ooze’ and become inflamed after withdrawing from her topical steroid creams.
Emily began suffering the ‘painful’ side effects of the drug just three months after giving birth to her son.
“It was hard taking care of my son when he was in so much pain that he didn’t want to move.
“Every movement I made hurt like hell, and I had to be warm because the cold air burned and itched.”
In addition to battling her physical symptoms, Emily’s self-confidence was shattered after her change in appearance.
She added: ‘My whole face looked like a different person and my skin was covered in cuts and lesions, and it was falling off so much. My self-esteem was not very good.’
He experienced red blotchy patches of skin on his face “like sunburns” that spread all over his body.
Emily stated that it was difficult to care for her son because he was in a lot of pain and did not want to move.
He said his self-esteem hit rock bottom after his skin was covered in cuts and injuries and he began to lose
Emily wants to raise awareness about the dangers of TSW after claiming she has ‘destroyed so many lives’.
Symptoms can occur in people who apply topical steroids for two weeks or more. For Emily, there were two decades of use that her skin had grown accustomed to.
She said: ‘When I was first prescribed the creams at three months old, we were told to apply where and when needed.
‘My skin was so bad they would have to wrap me in bandages and cover me with creams.
“As I got older, I only had issues with the creases in my elbows and the backs of my knees. She improved and almost completely disappeared after leaving school in June 2017.
Emily wants to raise awareness about the dangers of TSW after stating that it has “destroyed so many lives”.
Emily’s symptoms (pictured) can occur in people who apply topical steroids for two weeks or more
As he got older, he only had problems with creases in his elbows and the back of his knees, and his condition “completely” disappeared after he left school in June 2017.
“In October 2017 my skin started to get so bad that I was in bed for weeks with red, oozing skin and found my hair was falling out a lot.
‘The doctors gave me tubes full of steroid creams and tablets and it went away. I didn’t know it was TSW at the time.
Her skin was ‘amazing’ until she gave birth and noticed the redness coming back.
Emily said: “It spread to my chest and slowly covered my entire body with just a small patch of normal skin on my back.”
‘My lymph nodes in my neck were very swollen and I could barely move my neck to the left or right. My skin started to get very dry and flaky. I tried all types of moisturizers and i was dry again after five minutes.
“I had countless doctor’s appointments, blood tests, went to the hospital because I was worried I had something seriously wrong with me, only to be told it was just my eczema.”
After doing research online, Emily learned more about TSW and the creams and stopped using them in August 2022.
The symptoms, which came on quickly after stopping the creams, were extremely dry skin, red skin syndrome, swollen eyelids, skin infections, hair loss, insomnia, and bruising under the skin.
It took five months for her skin to heal, but I wish I had known more about the side effects before using the creams.
Emily’s hair began to fall out in clumps three months after giving birth to her baby.
After doing research online, Emily learned more about TSW and the creams and stopped using them in August 2022.
The symptoms, which came on quickly after stopping the creams, were extremely dry skin, red skin syndrome, swollen eyelids, skin infections, hair loss, insomnia, and bruising under the skin.
Emily claims she is doing much better now and has seen ‘amazing’ improvements in her skin and sleep.
She said: ‘I stayed very positive throughout it all because I knew it wasn’t forever and I had incredible support from my family and friends.
“I was on maternity leave while I was going through it, so I stayed away from home at my worst and it bothered me that I couldn’t go out and do fun things with my baby.
“I was lucky enough to only go through this for a little over five months and I know many more people have gone months or years to see improvements.
I am now much better and have seen amazing improvements in my skin and am now back to sleep.
I still get little red skin breakouts from time to time, but nothing like before.
“Having to go through this has been very difficult and painful and I have had a lot of anger because I wish this condition would be investigated more as it has destroyed so many lives.”
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