This teenager's face was ravaged by rare flesh-eating ulcers: 'She looks like she's been shot in the face'

TW: Disturbing details

In 2021 the story of a young girl who was suffering from flesh-eating ulcers started making the rounds on the internet.

Kirsten Cowell from Ammanford, Wales developed a rare skin condition that left her face covered in gaping sores. At just 19, she was struggling with the mystery condition for months. A condition that left her with painful, two-centimetre-deep holes that ooze pus.

Kirsten Cowell's condition

Kirsten from Ammanford, Wales, watched her face progressively deteriorate over the course of a few months. She first started to notice painful, pus-filled boils appearing on her face but expected them to disappear on their own.

But they then turned into scabs and holes -18 in total- that spread across her entire face. Her confidence sunk so low, she had to break up with her boyfriend. She said, as quoted by Daily Mail:

They look and feel like I have been stabbed in the face. I am constantly in extreme pain even if I move any part of my face or head and it's worst in the mornings. My daily life now just consists of dealing with the pain and trying to manage the seeping 24/7.

She had to wear puppy pads at night to soak up the weeping pus from her face. In 2021 Kirsten lived with her stay-at-home mum Allison, who said:

She looks like she's been shot in the face. They are extremely sore and she's in extreme pain and the wounds are seeping to the bottom of the bandages.$

Read more: This man's flesh started rotting after being bitten by the UK's most dangerous spider

What is pyoderma gangrenosum?

Back when she shared her story in 2021, she was still waiting for an official diagnosis on her condition. However doctors suspected that she has is a rare skin condition called pyoderma gangrenosum (PG).

PG can be caused by a small wound, scratch or insect bite and can be linked with diseases such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis or blood cancers.

And while it starts out as a small spot or blood blister, it progressed quickly, turning into painful ulcers

Kirsten was clueless as to how she may have got the condition. Half of PG cases have no known causes. Allison said:

We haven't had a diagnosis but the dermatologist has said that it looks like PG. I've never seen anything so severe in my life but we don't know where it has come from because she hasn't been bitten or scratched and she doesn't have an immune system issue so there's no reason for it to happen.

She was on a course of antibiotics and steroids and had surgery to remove the 18 scabs and clean the wounds.

Several years later, it is unknown whether Kirsten was able to get rid of the painful condition. They were hoping to get in touch with a PG specialist who could treat Kirsten’s condition.

Read more:

⋙ Mosquitos could be spreading flesh-eating bacteria, here's what to know

⋙ Here's how often you should be brushing your tongue to keep the bacteria away

Sources used:

Daily Mail: Teenager's face is covered with flesh-eating ulcers that have left her with 2cm deep HOLES and dark brown scabs after she contracted an illness so rare doctors can't diagnose it