This 11-Year-Old Australian Girl's Skin Condition Makes Her Allergic To Tears And Sweat

A mother has recently shared details of her daughter’s crippling skin ailment with the world. The little girl is said to be allergic to her own perspiration and tears. The 11-year old named Summah Williams was admitted to the hospital in Brisbane (Australia) recently, following the onset of a painful rash that her mother, Karyn Zimny, mistakenly believed to be a sunburn. Summah’s skin shed ‘like a snake’ from her head to her toes after she was put on medicines for a staph infection. The girl was found to have an acute case of eczema, which resulted in tears and sweat allergies as well as dry, itchy, and highly irritated skin. Although steroid creams and regular moisturising are normally effective treatments for eczema, Summah’s condition is so severe that she is having to undergo experimental treatment.

Summah’s mother, Karen Zimmy, claimed that during a flare-up, people would stare at her on the street due to her daughter’s condition. “Everywhere we went during this flare, people assumed Summah had sunburns. People stare at her when we go shopping”, Karen Zimmy said to a news portal. When Summah cries, her uncommon allergy causes her to have bulging “panda eyes.”

Her love of dancing is also being adversely affected because she gets itchy and her skin flares up when she sweats. “’Why can’t I have skin like them?’ she says, dismayed as she looks at all her other dance mates. It’s devastating,” Karen Zimmy remarked.

According to Eczema Support Australia, eczema affects up to 30% of children and 10% of adults in Australia. Although the ailment results in almost continual discomfort and annoyance, patients have also been observed to face broader consequences.

On the website of Eczema Support Australia, it is said that people with eczema are 44% more likely to experience insomnia, 41% more likely to experience anxiety, and 79% more likely to experience depression than the general population. Melanie Funk, the executive director of the organisation, stated that the confluence of unease and social seclusion was highly detrimental.