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SKIN HORROR
I begged my boyfriend to leave me after ‘ingrown hairs’ turned into apple-sized wounds as my breasts & bum ‘rotted off’
A WOMAN begged her boyfriend to leave her after her skin started to "eat itself" and rotten flesh fell off her breasts and bum.
Vienna German was left with "agonising" sores all over body thanks to what her GP initially thought was ingrown hairs.
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But eventually, the 25-year-old was diagnosed with the worst case of pyoderma gangrenosum her doctor had ever seen.
The rare skin condition causes "unbearably" painful ulcers which grow rapidly and can ooze fluid, according to the NHS and Vienna.
The dental nurse, from Southampton, feared she was "going to die" as she battled wounds the size of apples under both armpits and boobs and a 6.7in (17cm) sore covering her entire butt cheek, which left her bed bound for months.
She said: "I can't explain the pain I was feeling; it was a burning, stabbing, shooting pain all through me.
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"It was the worst thing I've ever felt."
Vienna was treated with a high dose of steroids, which caused her to go up four dress sizes in six months and left her looking like "a purple zebra" from bright stretch marks and scars all over her body.
The ordeal reportedly made her and her partner of seven years, Tom Gregory, 27, much closer - but the pair originally worried it would rob them of their future together.
"Tom nursed me back to life," she said.
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"He washed me, he dressed me, he did everything for me. I genuinely don't think I'd be here to tell the tale had he not been there.
"At the time I said, 'You can't watch me die, please leave me'.
"That's so sad to think about now because he's the love of my life, but I didn't want him to watch me die.
"We spoke about what I'd want if I did die and I put all that responsibility on him.
"I can't imagine how he felt. I know it was hard for me but it must've been really hard for him as well."
Vienna first visited a doctor in November 2021 and was given antibiotics to treat an inflamed hair follicle in her armpit.
But two days later, she was admitted to hospital from A&E.
Following a misdiagnosis and "painful" procedure to strip the skin from her armpits, Vienna was discharged a week later for what she secretly believed would be her last Christmas.
"It felt like someone had set a fire under my armpit and then poured gasoline on the fire," she said.
"No one would believe how bad the pain was because I had no official diagnosis. It was awful. I felt ignored.
"I came out of hospital in mid-November. I wasn't healing and [the sores] were agony, but I learnt to just keep my arms down by my side and not use them.
"I got this overwhelming feeling of doom. I felt like something was really wrong, so I hosted a Christmas party for my and Tom's family because I thought I was going to die.
"I thought, 'This is going to be my last Christmas - I probably won't be here next year.' I've never told anyone that."
It was a burning, stabbing, shooting pain all through me.
Vienna German
In January, Vienna woke up with more than 20 wounds over her legs, bum, boobs and back.
She recalled thinking she would die if she didn't immediately get to A&E.
Vienna said: "The sores started off as really tiny little puss spots.
"The only way I can explain it is that they were like mosquito bites but they were black, and they were everywhere.
"Open, rotting flesh was falling off my body for months. It was black and it was dead.
"I couldn't move. I couldn't even walk to the toilet by myself. One time I even wet myself because I couldn't get there quick enough.
"Mentally, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with.
"There was a point where I thought, 'If this disease doesn't kill me, I will kill myself'."
Vienna spent four weeks in hospital where she finally received an official diagnosis of pyoderma gangrenosum.
But she suffered severe side effects from steroids given as part of her treatment plan.
Vienna said: "That first week I was in hospital I met the man who saved my life.
"I saw lots of specialists - I was referred to infectious diseases, multiple dermatologists, the pain team, all sorts.
"But he knew exactly how to treat it and he knew what was wrong with me immediately.
"After seeing so many people it was just a relief to meet him.
"I was put on an extremely high dose of steroids, which really did help me start to heal.
"But I was taking them for a very long time at 100mg, when a normal dose is about 10mg."
'I LOOKED LIKE A PURPLE ZEBRA'
Vienna claims the medication gave her Cushing's syndrome - a condition caused by having too much of the hormone cortisol.
"It's known as the 'ugly syndrome'. It ruined my body and shut down my adrenal glands which was really scary," she said.
"Steroids also make you incurably hungry and I went up about four dress sizes.
"I was about a size 16 and then I was a size 24 by the end of the year.
"My body inflated so much and it's given me stretch marks everywhere. I look like a purple zebra.
"At the time, that was devastating. One day I just looked in the mirror and thought, 'This is not me. I don't even recognise you.'
"It destroyed my body image. I think I grieved for the girl I was before.
"It felt like she had died and I was a completely different person."
Vienna was unable to return to work over fears the stress could trigger a flare-up.
But finally, after accepting her situation, she decided to set up her own dog walking business, which has helped her lose 7st so far this year.
"It got to the point where I was just so depressed I was just eating to fill whatever void I had," she added.
"I just woke up one morning and thought, 'I just can't do this anymore,' so I started walking, moving a bit more, and eating healthier.
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"Now I'm just ready to get my scars dealt with and not look at myself and think about how traumatic last year was."
After taking more than 30 pills a day, Vienna is now off all medication, in remission and making arrangements with dermatologists to treat her scars.
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What is pyoderma gangrenosum?
PYODERMA gangrenosum is a rare skin condition that causes painful ulcers.
It often develops due to over-activity of the immune system or following an injury or minor skin damage such as a needle prick, biopsy or insect bite.
It can also be linked to a disease or illness, but it is not possible to catch it from another person.
Symptoms usually begin suddenly as either a small spot, red bump or blister.
This then turns into one or several painful and rapidly-growing ulcers, which can have purple or blue edges and ooze fluid.
Sufferers sometimes feel generally unwell and get a high temperature.
If you have an ulcer on your skin that is not getting better, speak to your GP.
Pyoderma gangrenosum is serious and needs to be treated quickly.
This is usually in the form of dressings to soak up any discharge, creams, ointments or injections, steroid tablets and immunosuppressants.
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