A 22-year-old nurse’s sore throat led to her developing "leopard print skin" across her body.
Ashling Armstrong said she first noticed red marks on her chest in January but dismissed them as acne.
However, within a week they had spread across her entire body, and Ashling was diagnosed with Guttate psoriasis.
Psoriasis is a skin condition which causes flaky patches of skin which form scales and affects around 1-in-50 people in the UK.
Ashling said her doctor told her the sore throat she’d had around a month before her spots first appeared likely triggered her psoriasis.
The avid-gym-lover spent months trying to cover up the red patches on her skin because of the “embarrassment” and they were often mistaken for severe burns by strangers.
But when the marks reached her face Ashling realised she could no longer hide them so decided to share her condition online.
She claims now that being loud and proud about her condition is the “best thing” she’s ever done and has helped her confidence “skyrocket”.
Ashling, from Belfast, Northern Ireland said: "It started on my chest in mid-January. When I was younger I used to have really bad acne so I didn't think anything of it.
"My mum came up to Belfast the following week and asked to see my back and I hadn't seen it myself and she said 'Ashling, your back is completely covered'.
"It was very mild at this point. I went to the doctors and they diagnosed me with Guttate psoriasis, which got me down a lot. It did take a toll on me.
"I was covering myself constantly. I was wearing a North Face coat when the sun was shining outside and was just really embarrassed by the whole thing."
She described how people stare “every day” at her but she understands why people might stare and think she was “a burns victim or something”.
"What I thought to myself one day, when I was walking back from the gym [when] I was just wearing a wee gym set with shorts - if you actually do look at it, it kind of looks like burns." She said.
She added: "At the beginning it made me very angry and a wee bit insecure and second-guess what I was wearing.”
The newly-qualified nurse said that much of her psoriasis is now a faded red colour and that bits on her legs still have the distinctive teardrop shape.
Ashling said: "It came onto my face and that's when I was like 'I can't hide this anymore'.
"I bought a top to wear after my psoriasis cleared up and it got to Easter Sunday and then I said 'you know what, I really want to wear this top, I'm just going to wear it'.
"I asked my friend if I should put up a post and she was like 'yes go for it, what's the worst that can happen? If anybody says anything it says a lot more about them to be honest'.
"I posted it and it's literally the best thing I've ever done in my life. I feel so amazing about it. My confidence has skyrocketed."
Ashling claims she was told by the doctor that her psoriasis would be gone within two to three months, but she still has it five months later.
She has started light therapy this month that she’s hoping will help but in the meantime refuses to let it stop her living her life.
Now, she shares videos of herself and her condition on TikTok and has promised herself that she’s going on her holiday to Ibiza this August whether the condition has cleared up or not.
Through the videos she’s posted on social media, she’s received heartfelt messages from people who also suffer from psoriasis.
One called her a “breath of fresh air” and another said she reminded her to “stop crying and get on with it”.
