A woman who was forced to leave Australia due to a debilitating skin disease has enjoyed a pain-free swim on the beach for the first time in more than 50 years.
Faye Haines, 54, was diagnosed with an extremely severe case of eczema when she was just four months old and it was described by countless specialists as the worst they had ever seen.
Mrs. Haines was essentially allergic to everything, including dust mites, makeup, fragrances, materials, plastics, foods, textiles, dyes, pollen and grass.
Her allergies would trigger her chronic eczema, causing a painful rash with oozing sores that erupted all over her body and caused her skin to peel.
From her late teens to early 20s, Ms. Haine’s eczema was widespread. She was hospitalized 20 times and had to be bandaged as if she were a burn victim.
“When I went to hospital they wrapped me from head to toe in bandages because I lost so much skin it was like liquid and I was just crying,” Ms Haines told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I had to undergo wet treatments where I was wrapped a couple of times a day with wet bandages and excessive amounts of cream.
‘I was also treated intravenously for the infection. My doctors said I had to do the bandages at home, which obviously made it extremely difficult to live a normal life.
Faye Haines was diagnosed with an extremely severe case of eczema when she was four months old, requiring her to bind her body from head to toe (pictured as a young adult).
Ms Haines explained that she had a long list of allergies that would make her eczema (pictured) worse.
“I couldn’t shower because the doctors told me to avoid water and advised me to bathe in salt water, but when I went to the beach I just screamed because the salt water was like pouring acid on the cuts that covered my entire body.”
Doctors prescribed Ms. Haines a high dose of prednisone, but it didn’t work.
However, everything changed after she discovered she was allergic to the Australian weather following a trip to the UK when she was 19.
“Wearing full bandages in the Australian heat was quite difficult and I ended up becoming more and more isolated,” Mrs Haines explained.
‘When it was hot I had flies hovering around me, as if they were going for all the open wounds on my body.
‘I couldn’t go for a walk, forget about taking a walk in the countryside, forget about the beach, forget about everything that makes Australia the country it is.
‘As soon as I left the country, (the severe eczema) disappeared. It was just mind-blowing to go from some sort of disability to being absolutely normal.
‘But when I came back (to Australia) it came back. When I returned to the UK when I was 20, I was cured again.’
Doctors tried to treat Ms Haines, but nothing worked to relieve the painful red rash that would take over her entire body (pictured). However, everything changed when he moved to the United Kingdom.
After a trip abroad, Mrs Haines (pictured) soon realized she was allergic to Australia.
After three trips to the UK, doctors advised Mrs Haines to consider moving abroad permanently to give herself the chance to lead a “normal life”.
In 1999, Haines made the difficult decision to move to the United Kingdom, leaving his family and friends in Australia.
“I still had eczema, but on a scale of one to 100, it was probably around 30 or 40 in the UK, compared to 100 in Australia,” he said.
Mrs Haines visited Australia every year at Christmas and throughout the month she experienced the unbearable symptoms of her severe eczema.
After a brief period in Australia with her husband and son, Ms Haines returned to the UK again in 2016.
However, after experiencing a horrific reaction following her second Covid vaccine which left her bedridden for two years, Ms Haines was desperate for a cure.
The mother-of-one shared photos of her condition on an Australian eczema group on Facebook and was advised to try a “biological” treatment called Dupilumab (Dupixent).
Ms Haines made a plan to be healthy enough to travel back to Australia to try the drug and in August this year she received her first injection.
The injection worked within hours and Mrs Haines was left in complete disbelief.
“I could win the lottery fifty times and I wouldn’t come close to the feeling I get from not having eczema,” she said.
‘It’s a bloody miracle and it feels amazing, I still can’t believe it and I never thought my skin would be so clear and soft.
“It’s crazy the basic things I can do now, like bathing, walking in the park, swimming – they were prohibited before.”
Within hours, Mrs Haines (pictured with her husband) was cured of her debilitating eczema.
The 54-year-old (pictured) is now excited to enjoy her first Australian summer.
What was once forbidden, such as walking in the countryside, is now something Mrs Haines can enjoy with her son (pictured)
Last week, Haines swam at an Australian beach for the first time in 54 years without feeling any pain.
The Newcastle local can now take her 10-year-old son to the park, for bush walks and even to the beach.
“It is truly a blessing for my family to see me healed, because now I can spend time with them like I was meant to,” Mrs. Haines said.
‘I hope to live to be 110 because I have a lot of lost time to make up for. I feel like I can live for the first time without pain.’
In addition to her fortnightly injections, Ms Haines also uses products from Australian natural skincare brand MooGoo to help rejuvenate her skin.
She said products like udder cream, amplified anti-aging peptide and shampoo cured her dry skin and scalp.
‘The injections got rid of all the eczema, but they didn’t really get rid of the dryness. “It was like it was snowing,” Mrs. Haines said.
‘The cream I have been using has left my skin very soft and the dryness has almost disappeared. I started using MooGoo shampoo and conditioner and it worked. I’ve noticed that my hair is starting to grow back, which I lost with the eczema on my scalp.’
Eczema is one of the top 10 chronic health conditions in Australia and causes dry, itchy, scaly and painful lesions on the body.
Australia has one of the highest rates of eczema, with up to 2.8 million Australians suffering from it, according to Eczema Support Australia.
Extreme weather, including scorching heat, tropical storms, and increased humidity, can often disrupt the skin’s barrier function and trigger or worsen eczema symptoms.