Bathing is one of the activities that we always do every day. But not for Maxine Jones, a former nurse from Ecclesfield, South Yorkshire, England.
Maxine has a rare disease called aquagenic urticaria, a condition in which the skin experiences hypersensitivity to water.
Because of the disease, Maxine can only bathe twice a year. He also can't get out in the rain, and even has to wear gloves when brushing his teeth and making tea.
"If I touch the water, the pain is terrible. It feels like I have destroyed every bone on my leg, and my body is itching like I have rolled on a bed of nettles (plants that cause itching)," said the 52-year-old woman quoted by Daily. Mail.
The symptoms of this disease began to be felt about eight years ago. The doctor also examined it in every way but could not confirm that the disease was aquagenic urticaria. But after a year passed, it was true that Maxine had the disease.
Maxine said that the disease attacks the entire body except the nose, eyes and mouth. He needs heavy doses of steroids to deal with itching and abrasions when taking a bath.
He tried various treatments to control his condition, including chemotherapy and pills. But nobody helped. Then the former nurse combined several tablets to help maintain her condition, she said the tablets were used for leprosy.
"Sometimes it feels like a prison sentence. It's a miserable disease and I don't want it to happen to anyone, but you have to learn to live with it," Maxine said.
Aquagenic ictaria is thought to affect one in every 230 million people. And according to The British Association of Dermatologists, this disease is very rare and has not found a cure.