A mother-of-two who suffered with eczema for 15 years has revealed converting to veganism saved her skin.
Jennifer Pierce, 36, had spent the best part of her life using steroid cream to treat the skin condition, but stopped using it after the birth of her daughter.
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As soon as she stopped using the addictive treatment, her skin flared up leaving her with severe itching, hair loss, flaky skin and night sweats as result of the withdrawal.
The stay-at-home mum from Los Angeles then decided to cut out animal products from her diet - a move she says transformed her skin.
"I'd used steroid cream since I was 25 years old to help clear my eczema - I was never made aware by doctors about the risk of becoming addicted," Jennifer said.
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"But everything changed when I fell pregnant with Pixley and I was covered head to toe with eczema - doctors gave me an even stronger steroid cream.
"My skin cleared for the duration of my pregnancy but after giving birth I suffered with horrible flare ups and I was covered head to toe with eczema.
"Around the same time, I decided to quit my job at Amazon so I can stay at home with my daughter - I no longer had the medical insurance to pay for the cream."
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Quickly, Jennifer's skin went into withdrawal.
"A couple of days later, my body went into topical steroid withdrawal, but I didn't know what was happening - I was scared," she says.
"My face was red and swollen and my whole body was suffering with burning skin and a constant bone deep itch.
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"I rushed to the naturopathic doctors who recommended a new prescription which mustered the symptoms for a handful of months.
"I realised something wasn't right - I used to apply the cream once a week before Pixley was born and then I was applying it three times a day and it would mask the flare up.
"It was then when I began to research my symptoms online and I came across topical steroid withdrawal and learnt what was happening.
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"I went into hiding because I felt so embarrassed about my appearance - my skin was red, flaky, cracked and bleeding."
On her doctor's advice, Jennifer then decided to cut out dairy, gluten, fish and meat from her diet and to her astonishment, he skin began to get progressively better.
"My doctor recommended a complete elimination diet where I cut out the top foods related to allergies and then slowly reintroduce after 30 days - I cut out dairy, eggs, and gluten first," the mum explained.
"I didn't even know food could be a culprit."
Jennifer now praises her diet for putting an end to ten months of hell. She also stopped using all moisturisers and didn't bathe for four weeks.
"I read online about no moisture therapy and I was willing to give anything a try," she adds.
"I had to wash with a sponge for four weeks and I sat in the sun for 15 minutes a day to get some vitamin D.
"Naturally when you see a dry patch of skin - you want to moisturise but it actually slows down the healing.
"Quitting all moisturisers combined with my diet change was a massive turning point for my skin.
"I felt uplifted and encouraged to continue eating a plant-based diet because every day my skin was getting better.
"Now I only have three or four flare ups a year when the season changes and they only last a few days.
"Pixley started to get eczema at 18 months old so I swapped her diet to plant-based too - her skin is much better too!"
While there's a ton of anecdotal evidence about vegan diets improving eczema, there isn't much conclusive evidence to say a plant-based diet can improve your skin.
There are a lot of factors to consider, and everyone's biology is different - so what might work for one person, might not for another.
For the best advice, it's best to speak to your GP.
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