A mum-of-two who lives with a debilitating skin condition has said she is forced to hoover “constantly” because her skin is always falling off of her body.
Rebecca Sayers, 21, from Kenley in Croydon, south London suffers from psoriasis, a condition that causes skin called to multiply up to ten times faster than normal.
The extra skin leaves a buildup on her body, leaving her covered in bumpy red patches and white scales.
She told MyLondon she has been dealing with the condition since primary school where cruel kids would tell her “nobody will ever love you” and that her mum and dad hate her.
Mum Rebecca said the psoriasis worsened over the last few months and she has been “crying” and struggling to sleep because her skin “is so itchy”.
Rebecca said she’s also been “ripping” her skin “open in the night time scratching it” and her wounds have started to weep.
She said: “There have been times when I’ve been crying because my skin is so itchy, and I’ll scratch it to the point where it’s weeping.
“For the last however many months it’s been I haven’t been able to sleep properly, I’ve been ripping my skin open in the night time scratching it.”
Mum-of-two Rebecca said being a single parent to her children, who are 1 and 3, means she often has to force herself to ignore the discomfort and switch into parent mode.
Rebecca even said the whole floor of her house “gets covered with patches of skin” and admits it’s “all over” her room, front room and baby’s clothes.
She added: “The amount of times I hoover a day just to get rid of the skin, it’s always constantly falling off my body.
“My whole floor of my house gets covered with patches of my skin which fall off – every minute of every day, it’s all over my room, it’s all over the front room, it goes on the baby’s clothes.”
Rebecca has said she’s had repeated medical referrals to deal with psoriasis and the stress caused by the condition, which ultimately makes her skin worse.
Sadly though, she hasn’t had any luck and is worried about the potentially severe side effects of immunosuppressants she was prescribed in December.
She said: “It makes me feel really miserable and depressed, and think why do I have to live like this.
“I just want to be a normal girl my age that can go out, live a normal life, look after my children and bring them up,” she said.
“And me being stressed about the doctors not doing anything about it is making my condition worse.”