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BREAST IMPLANTS are being blamed for exacerbating a woman's eczema, which has become so severe she's considered suicide.
Christine Nguyen was covered in flaking, blistered skin and unable to leave the house, move or have sex.
The 27-year-old had to quit her job as an aesthetician and start claiming disability benefit after the eczema she developed as a child took a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse.
Christine - who lives in Colorado, USA - suffered so severely she was unable to go to the shops and at one stage her mother had to carry her to the bath.
She almost split from her long-term boyfriend, financial planner Gerard Mota, 26, as she spent all night scratching and felt "so unattractive".
"I even considered killing myself," she admitted.
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| Christine felt suicidal after suffering so badly with eczema |
Christine was first diagnosed with eczema aged just 10 years old, but it rarely caused her problems until she had breast augmentation in April 2013, aged 25.
Although she was delighted with the results, but just four months later her eczema took a turn for the worse.
Christine thinks it might have been an allergic reaction to the silicone in her breasts that caused this extreme reaction, although nothing has been proven.
She explained: "It started with my face swelling up. My friend said I looked like a blown-up Mulan – from the Disney films.
"Then my face blistered in third-degree like burns."
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| This shows the severity of Christine's struggles with her skin condition |
She added: "No doctor could figure out exactly what was going on. They still can't. But I was able to keep it more or less under control with steroids. For a while."
Unfortunately it didn't get better, and in 2014 she reached a crisis point. "My body shut down. I literally could not get out of bed for a whole four months.
"Bathing was excruciating. My mum would literally have to pick me up and bathe me as I cried in pain. Now, that was a uniquely heart-rending and heart-warming experience all in one.
"Even eating became ridiculous – my face was so inflamed it would crack or ooze when I opened my mouth."
She added: "I couldn't have sex with my boyfriend for months either. I was in too much pain, and I didn't want to anyway, I felt so unattractive."
She said: "Looking in the mirror, I just thought, what's the point? This nightmare is never, ever going to end. I felt so helpless, like I had no purpose in the world any more.
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| The eczema covered the entirety of Christine's body, including her face |
"My family were supporting me financially and having to care for me at home – I felt like a burden, nothing more."
Her salvation came in the form of Avène, a world-famous hydrotherapy treatment centre in the South of France.
Christine received water treatments six days a week and drank the spring water, containing probiotics, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties.
Miraculously, her skin began clearing up and she said it felt like being part of a "top secret dermatitis club".
Christine explained: "I'm not naive enough to think this will be the end of it.
"There will probably be what sufferers call 'anniversary flare-ups' but I can deal with anything now. It's like a fog has lifted. I have my swagger back."
see www.gofundme.com/stineonthescene
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