Alice Kendall, 28, from Ely, Cambridgeshire, says she now sees herself as "a bit of a monster" after stopping the steroid cream she had used for 12 years to treat her eczema. The withdrawal left her house-bound for five months, with skin so flaky she has to vacuum it up.
Alice has suffered with eczema since she was a baby, but said it worsened when she was a toddler and she was offered steroid cream by doctors. The eczema appeared on her eyes and the creases of her arms and legs, before spreading all over her body when infected.
Career and dating struggles
Her eczema cleared when she started secondary school, and she only occasionally used steroids to tackle bad flare-ups. But after leaving school to become a hairdresser, the chemicals, dyes and constant hair washing made her skin "horrendous" and left her constantly relying on the steroid cream.
Due to her flare-ups, Alice was forced to quit hairdressing at 18 and instead pursued a career in childcare, continuing to use the steroid cream as dating was "hard" with a skin condition.
In September 2023, waste sampler Alice suddenly began getting painful rashes in odd places, and even her usual creams wouldn't help soothe her skin. After cutting out the steroids in September 2025, her skin became so itchy and flaky she was house-bound for five months, only leaving the house to go to dermatology appointments.
Living hell and recovery
Alice believes her skin was withdrawing from the medication she'd used for 12 years, a condition known as topical steroid withdrawal (TSW). Despite Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) helping her skin, she described not seeing herself in the mirror but "a monster".
Alice said: "It's weird, I don't see myself as Alice, I see myself as a bit of a monster at the moment. That's sad, but that's how I feel."
She added: "I left school and went into hairdressing. All the chemicals and the dyes, washing hair, made my skin horrendous. I left my apprenticeship because I couldn't do it, I was using steroids all the time. I went into childcare and there were no issues with that, I just had normal eczema."
Alice said she "didn't know the risks" of the steroids. She said: "I was still prescribed steroids and I feel angry with myself. I used it on such a small amount of eczema, but I didn't know the risks. I kept using it because I didn't want eczema. When you are a girl at 18 you want to find a boyfriend and dating is hard if you have a skin issue because you're conscious about it."
She described the experience as "absolutely living hell" and said she had days when she couldn't physically get her body out of bed because her skin was so tight.
Warning to others
Although Alice has seen some improvements since starting CAP treatment in January 2026, she admits she's still forced to vacuum up her flaky skin. She said: "I have to hoover after myself loads. We have black tiles in the kitchen, which is a big mistake if you have TSW."
Alice is now warning people about the risks of steroid creams. She said: "I've seen people say 'that won't happen to me', but it can happen to you. That's the risk and that's what you need to be aware of when you're prescribed these. Do your research before you take the medication and see what people are going through."
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) warns that potent steroids should not be used continuously "at any site for longer than eight weeks" and treatment should be for the "shortest duration needed" to manage the condition. They warn that TSW reactions can occur with long-term use of topical corticosteroids and advise those prescribing it to warn patients that TSW can occur after long-term use.
