A WOMAN claims she was treated like a leper after a skin condition left her "clawing herself raw".
Natalie Merchant Wright, 20, developed mild eczema as a baby which she treated with a steroid cream.
"I've been clawing myself raw for 20 years," the dancer explained.
"It wasn't an uncommon occurrence to wake up with bloody bed sheets and my own dead skin flakes – it felt like waking up to crumbs in the bed."
However, over the years her skin became addicted to the cream for healing and caused agonising effects.
"I've been through literal hell, there were days when mentally and emotionally it was so much that I'd just go to bed," Natalie, from Georgia, US, explained.
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The swing dancer was suffering from a condition know as topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) after stopping the medicine in 2017.
According to the NHS, TSW is serious potential side effect of topical steroid use.
Most people who take topical steroids don't have any problem with these medicines.
But taking too much or stopping the steroids too quickly can cause rebound symptoms like burning, redness, and itchy skin.
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"At its worst my skin is very, very itchy, but red, raw and it oozes.
"It's super thin, you scratch an itch until it's raw, it doesn't go away and then you're scratching raw open skin and that's super painful.
"Getting water on those open wounds from showering, washing my hands or getting a little sweaty is super painful.
"The best way I can describe it is the sensation of lemon juice getting into a cut," she explains.
Natalie said her skin often makes her feel "horrible" and "gross".
"I was going through rolls of paper towels drying these wounds and trying to keep all the ooze and blood to a minimum," she explained.
"You feel diseased, like a reject and a leper half the time and people kind of treat you like that, whether or not they mean to," she added.
The rare condition also leaves suffers with non-skin symptoms, like depression, tiredness, and hair-loss.
"There'll be times that I literally did wet the bed because I didn't have the strength to get up and go to the bathroom. I had no motivation, it was such a dark place," she said.
The dancer claimed she tried "anything and everything" to treat her skin given it's triggered by numerous things.
This included visiting a range of health experts, trying various creams, medications and supplements.
She also changed her diet by going dairy and gluten-free for five years, in a bid to cut out any food allergies.
After feeling helpless for years, discovering cold atmospheric plasma therapy (CAP), a treatment which is only available in the UK, Singapore and Thailand, has provided Natalie with a light at the end of the tunnel.
Natalie and husband Matthew Wright, 25, tied the knot on April 3 2023 before jetting off to Thailand days later for the treatment and after two sessions, she's already noticing a big difference.
She's now set up a GoFundMe to raise $30,000 (£24,203) to help cover the cost of the treatment as well as their flights, visas, and living expenses while out there.
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"In between every treatment I'm seeing improvements – the redness is going down and flaking is increasing, which means your body is healing and reproducing skin cells.
"I think I'm going to start to look like a new woman, I cannot wait."
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