Swedish girl 'grows back face' after reaction to paracetamol

 

 

A SWEDISH teenager has grown her face back after an allergic reaction to a single paracetamol pill caused the skin to turn black and peel off.

Eva Uhlin, 19, has recovered her looks after suffering an allergic reaction to the common painkiller, bought over the counter.

The deadly condition, known as toxic epidermal necrolysis, attacked her body, causing her skin to blister, burn and scab.

During her illness, skin on her chest, arms, back and stomach fell off. At one point the damage to Ms Uhlin's face was so bad that her lips fused together.

''It felt like something was crawling around under my skin, I was in total shock - it was like something out of a horror film,'' she said. ''I couldn't believe what was happening. I had taken paracetamol many times before.''

Ms Uhlin's nightmare began in September 2005, when she became ill with a fever on holiday.

Then aged 15, she was told to take a paracetamol tablet to relieve her symptoms, but the combination of her virus and the drug created a freak reaction.

She woke up the next day to find blisters covering her face and spreading all over her body.

''It was terrifying, because at the time they didn't know what was wrong with me or what would happen to me,'' she said.

''When I looked in the mirror for the first time after it happened I didn't recognize myself.''

After years of treatment at the University Hospital of Linkoping in Sweden, Ms Uhlin has finally regained something close to the normal life of teenager and has a job as a waitress.

The British newspaper The Sun reported she spent weeks lying in a hospital bed. But after three years her skin grew back.

She still has to take eye drops twice a day and is sensitive to bright sunlight.

''I've always been a positive person, and I didn't let myself think about the chance that my skin would never be normal again,'' she said. ''As well as the pain, the effect that the reaction had on my confidence for that time was pretty terrible. I was so ashamed of the way I looked. I hated anybody to see me.''

Folke Sjoberg, one of the doctors who treated Ms Uhlin, said she was lucky to recover.

''The condition is very uncommon and it strikes only one in a million people. With this condition you have to just let it run its course because there is no way to stop it,'' he said.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis, also known Lyell's syndrome, kills 40 per cent of sufferers.

Professor Sjoberg said: ''In very basic layman's terms the skin reacts against itself because of the allergic reaction - it is very much like a burn injury, although it does tend to heal much better. At its worst, it covers all the skin on the body and can scab over the eyes and my body.