A mum says she was left feeling "like a monster" after coronavirus seemed to stop her acne medication from working, and even had to hide from her own daughter.
Now Jaime Graves says she is finally able to leave the house after her mother treated her to an £85 “miracle cure". Having suffered with cystic acne for 10 years, the legal PA, 42, had always been able to clear her complexion with antibiotics. Jamie believes the pus-filled pimples that form deep under the skin were first triggered by hormonal changes in her early 30s.
But when a break out covered her face in January 2022, after she had tested positive for covid, the single mum says her usual prescription had no effect, the MEN reports.
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Even hiding her face under make up from her 13-year-old daughter Freya, it was not until her mum, Susan, 68, bought her a skin care bundle after reading about its properties, that Jaime says her spots started to disappear. Jamie said: “My mental health was so low earlier in the year.
“I hated my face to the point where I didn’t want anyone else to see it. I can’t believe I’m now freely leaving the house whenever I want to and I even joined a work video call the other day completely make up free, which is something I never would have done before.”
Jamie, who lives in Bedfordshire, said her skin began to get worse in 2012. She said: “I suffered a really bad outbreak across my face that wouldn’t go away. I went to the doctor’s and they told me I had cystic acne.
“I was given antibiotics which calmed my skin down. Over the last 10 years I’ve only had two bad outbreaks of cystic acne and both times antibiotics prescribed by my GP have done the trick to fix it.”
She added: “My skin has always been my biggest insecurity, but the antibiotics made it manageable.”
That was until January 2022, when Jaime came down with Covid. She said: “I was under the weather for a few days, but the worst side effect I suffered from Covid was another cystic acne outbreak.”
“It was so bad that my skin was red raw and so sore. I had bumps of cysts across my face. I felt like a monster.”
As with previous outbreaks, Jaime made a GP appointment once she tested negative for Covid. She said: “I was prescribed antibiotics, which normally take a couple of weeks to take effect. After a fortnight though, there were no improvements. I felt helpless.”
She said she paid for a number of skincare treatments, but nothing seemed to work, and found herself avoiding friends and working from home.
Jamie eventually became so self-conscious that she did not even want her daughter to see her face. She said: “I didn’t want her to see how red and sore it was. I looked like a monster, it was horrible. I didn’t know what to say. I was just at my lowest point and my skin was drastically affecting my confidence and mental health.”
At the end of April 2022, Jaime’s mum offered to buy her a skincare bundle from a firm called Bedew, costing £85: “She purchased a Bedew essentials kit which she had read good reviews of and came with an almond oil cleanser, moisturiser, hyaluronic hydrator, enzyme peel, SPF face cream, and a cloth, and she also got me a pink clay mask.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect it to work, because I’d given up hope at that point."
Jaime used the products as part of her morning and evening skincare routine and was shocked at how soon she noticed results.
She said: “I noticed a change within about two weeks. My skin was so much more hydrated, the lumps had started reducing and so had the redness. My skin around my eyes was also improving, I was elated.
“It wasn’t an overnight fix and I have continued taking my antibiotics along with the skincare products, but it gave me the confidence to keep going with it and the results have given me my life back.
“I am now able to go out with minimal make up on. I am also happy not to wear make up in front of my daughter.”
Jaime says her newfound confidence has also helped her to become closer to her daughter. She added: “I still get the odd spot from time to time, but nothing like the cystic acne outbreaks I was getting before. This treatment has really changed my life.”
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