A woman has described how her body is almost entirely covered in red, bleeding, and oozing skin after being prescribed steroid cream for eczema. Just three prescriptions of the lotion left 95 per cent of 21-year-old Sophie Cooper's body burning. She suffered from eczema as a child, but when it worsened in 2023, she sought help from her GP, who prescribed steroid creams.
Three ten-week courses of the cream, each progressively stronger, did nothing to clear the itchy skin on her arms, so she stopped. However, that is when she began to suffer from topical steroid withdrawal (TSW), an often misunderstood reaction to halting the use of steroid cream. Sophie said she was unaware of the risk of withdrawal until she read the small print on the boxes, but by then it was too late.
Despite her ordeal, Sophie recently discovered she is a finalist in the Miss Great Britain Kent competition and has vowed, 'I'm not letting my skin stop me.' Within weeks of stopping the cream, red, sore, and oozing patches spread across her face and body until 95 per cent of her body was in agony. Although she has been off the creams for 18 months, her condition is so debilitating that she cannot work and says showering feels like an 'acid bath'.
She is often left sobbing and, after months of hiding her flaky, bloody skin from even friends and family, has started sharing videos on TikTok, soon gathering around 9,000 supporters. A recent paper by skin experts revealed that the problem is widely discussed on social media, and '#TSW' has over 1.1 billion views on TikTok. Despite that, a survey of UK dermatology clinicians found that only 34 per cent believe TSW is a distinct condition, leaving sufferers like Sophie frustrated and unheard.
Intense itching and pain
'The itching is so intense,' said Sophie, from Canterbury, Kent, who works in sales. 'People say "just don't itch", but it's bone deep, like you want to claw your skin off to get right down to your bone. I have to change my bedsheets every morning and hoover the bed and the floor from all the skin that comes off in my sleep. I have blood on the sheets every day. Showers are like acid being poured on me, or getting sunburn with a thousand paper cuts on you at the same time.'
She added: 'The other day I managed to go out for a burger, but I couldn't even eat it because moving my jaw to bite it opened up sores on my face and they started to weep. When it oozes, I can't sleep lying down at night because it makes my face ooze and crust all over. I have to sleep sitting up.'
Sophie had eczema as a child but noticed it worsening in 2023, spreading further up her arms, which she put down to stress after finishing sixth form. Unaware of the risks, she was prescribed a ten-week course of steroid cream by a GP, then a course of medium-strength cream, then a course of strong steroid cream, none of which worked. By the end of 2023, she was told by doctors that nothing more could be done if she did not want to take more steroids, and she stopped using the creams when her prescriptions ran out.
Months of deterioration
Months later, she began to notice her skin getting worse. Red, itchy patches spread across her body, and further trips to the GP proved fruitless as she begged to be referred to specialists. By November 2025, nearly every inch of her body was impacted by the condition, and this remains true today. She said: 'That was when I became concerned it might be topical steroid withdrawal. It's this burning, intense itching, inflammation.'
Sophie is on a waiting list for ultraviolet light therapy (UVB), which the NHS says can reduce inflammation, and injections that might help. But she has been waiting for months while the condition has continued to tear her life apart. 'Now it pretty much covers all of me, bar my feet,' she said. 'I suffer with insomnia, nerve pain, I struggle with temperature regulation, as well as bleeding and oozing. It is hell on earth. It is all I can think about and all I feel every day.'
Loss of identity
'I'm a completely different person to who I was. I used to be so confident, love make-up and fashion, and love taking pictures for Instagram. Some people mistake me for a burns victim. Others come up to me in the street and ask if I'm okay. I'm housebound most days and I can't work. It's so much more than just red and itchy skin. At last, no comments about it can hurt me, because nothing can hurt me more than my own skin does.'
She is on sick leave from her sales job as she is unable to get into work most days, cannot wear a uniform that covers her arms, and often has open wounds that pose an infection risk. She was even hospitalised in April after developing cellulitis from one of the open sores on her body, which led to her 'screaming in pain' when a doctor used an alcohol wipe on her arm before injecting her. She said she even begged to be put in an induced coma while delirious from the pain, just so she could stop feeling the pain and itching and let her body recover, but they would not. Sophie fears that if she takes much more leave, her employers will want to replace her with someone more reliable.
Raising awareness
She wants greater awareness and said: 'There is very little research, and I feel like myself and the TSW community have been failed by the NHS. So now I am spreading my own awareness online, because this is so much more than just red itchy skin, and I don't want other sufferers to feel alone. It hurts my heart to see parents putting steroid creams on their children because they don't know any better.'
In spite of the difficulties her skin brings, she was recently confirmed to be a Miss Great Britain Kent finalist. She added: 'I'm not letting my skin stop me!' To donate to her recovery, visit her JustGiving page.
