For over a decade my skin has been breaking out in lumps and bumps as big as golf balls
Mum speaks out to help others
Stacey O’connor suffers from Hidradenitis Suppuravita which causes her skin to erupt in boils and abscesses – some as big as golf balls.
The 29-year-old who lives in Cloghane, Co Kerry, led a perfectly normal life until she started noticing large abscesses on her body aged 17.
She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I started getting outbreaks on my groin and lumps and bumps on my breasts as well. I’d have flare-ups for a few weeks and then it would just go away.
“I tried to avoid looking at them but they were extremely painful.
“They were roughly the size of a plum. Walking was very hard – if I had a bad flare-up I couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.
“Clothes were difficult as well. I couldn’t wear denim jeans or anything Stacey O’connor from Co Kerry that might stick to my skin. It was very hard at that age. I didn’t know what it was and I just felt ashamed and disgusted.”
Like most HS sufferers Stacey’s confidence took a severe knock because of the smell caused by the excrutiating boils – which usually appear in the sweat glands of the armpits, breast and groin areas.
She said: “They drain with puss. I was showering three times a day but it made no difference. I was too scared to tell anyone and I felt very ashamed.
“For most people relationships can be very difficult but I was lucky that I met James, my husband, young and we were serious about each other from the start so I told him everything.
“After about two years I told my mam because the flare-ups were getting worse and she could see something was wrong.
“We went to the doctor and got antibiotics but it was not properly diagnosed so nothing was helping.”
Stacey’s case was uncontrolled for nine years until she finally got a referral to a consultant dermatologist two years ago who correctly diagnosed the nodules as HS.
Stacey, who works for Boylesports, said: “I’m not on any medication for it. It’s an auto-immune disease which attacks your body so every person’s treatment is different.
“My saving grace was I read about a man who had HS and a support group on Facebook and through that I learned about a team at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin who specialise in it.
“They say it’s a rare disease but I believe more people have it than admit to it.
“I would urge anyone suffering in silence to go and seek help. Once you get the ball rolling you feel human again, you don’t feel like a freak any more.”
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