An 11-year-old girl has developed a painful skin condition that makes her allergic to her own tears and sweat and makes it almost impossible to continue her favourite sport, New York Post reported.
Summah Williams was hospitalised at the end of 2022 when her skin dried out out into cracks and became red and inflamed beneath a layer of shedding skin.
Her mother, Karyn Zimny, thought she got sunburnt but was concerned after she noticed her daughter shivering in the heat and itching at her skin through the night. “When we went to hospital, she had a staph infection and when she was on antibiotics, her whole face and body shed like a snake from head to toe, the bath would be full of skin,” she said.
The girl was later diagnosed with eczema and has developed an allergy from her own sweat and tears. “[It’s] heartbreaking as she loves dancing,” her mother said.
“When she looks at all her other dance friends, she gets upset and asks, ‘Why can’t I have skin like them?’ It’s heartbreaking.”
Summah is currently trialling a new injection treatment called Dupixent, but is still getting terribly painful facial flares, according to New York Post.
Meanwhile, there is currently no cure for eczema, psoriasis or dermatitis, so keeping the symptoms under control is critical for those living with the disease.
As per the report by New York Post, Australian children have one of the highest incidences of eczema in the world and the extreme heat of this summer is putting more children at risk.
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