Ashling Armstrong, a nurse by profession, noticed the appearance of small red spots all over her body. What she initially thought was a mild sore throat and acne turned out to be something more severe affecting her skin. The tiny red spots started spreading across her chest, arms, legs, back and torso indicating the need for medical attention.
More info & Image Credit: Instagram
Guttate psoriasis was the diagnosis made by the doctors, as confirmed by the nurse. This is a type of skin condition that typically affects children and young adults, often developing after an infection such as strep throat. It presents with small, red, scaly spots on the skin that can be itchy and uncomfortable.
Ashling plummeted into an emotional abyss after receiving a prognosis from physicians
Despite being anticipated to last only a few weeks, her condition persisted for nearly six months
After a few weeks, the condition that Ashling was experiencing typically resolves on its own and is not chronic. Despite this, being diagnosed with the condition had a negative impact and caused her to feel down. Additionally, she was informed that the sore throat she had been experiencing were the cause of the sudden rash.
She told Kennedy News,
“It started on my chest in mid-January. It was very mild at this point. When I was younger I used to have really bad acne so I didn’t think anything of it. My mom 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,”
“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, I can’t even describe it, and it’s amazing. I feel really powerful. [The blotches are] everywhere, my ears, face, the bridge of my feet, legs, hips, bum cheeks, everywhere. I get people staring every day. I honestly don’t care anymore, I’m so past the point of caring.”
Also, she added, “Posting on TikTok genuinely just makes me feel good about myself and when people comment and say I’m beautiful, I feel good. Especially with this on my skin, being called beautiful makes me feel a lot better because you do feel that you’re ugly with that type of thing. It’s one of those things, at the end of the day, we need to normalize it. Everyone’s beautiful in their own way, shape or form,”.
After undergoing five sessions of light treatment, Ashling informed her 400K TikTok followers that her blotches were beginning to fade
Have you ever experienced a skin condition? If so, how did you react when you first noticed it? We would love to hear from you in the comments about how you manage and cope with your skin issue.