A young boy whose skin condition was so serious it was confused for a Halloween mask was cured when his mum changed his diet.
Elliot West was just four months old when he started to develop tiny red bumps on his face which spread across his body.
A doctor diagnosed his condition as eczema so took him to the doctor who gave him steroid cream but his condition continued to worsen.
He was left in agony as his skin oozed, peeled off and bled, causing him to scream throughout the night.
As a result his mum, Rachael West, looked online and says she found a link between his food allergies and eczema.
Rachael, 30, said: “I didn't like taking him out to places like the store as we'd get a lot of stares and comments.
"Taking him out too was really scary because he also had a lot of allergies as well.
"One time we were in the store around Halloween when he was a baby and someone looked at his face and said 'oh, he's ready for Halloween isn't he?' That really upset me.
"Mostly we'd have people coming up asking questions like 'what's wrong with him? What is that?' or little kids would stare and point at him and be like 'mommy, look'.
"I think it really impacted his physical health and mobility and also sleep. During that time we didn't get any sleep really. We'd maybe get a few hours at a time and he'd wake up screaming. I knew the steroids weren't working.
"I was really upset, wanted to find relief and was on the internet researching what I needed to do because I was so desperate to get him better.
“I saw something online that food allergies can be linked to eczema, so I was like 'oh right ok, I'll try that' because the doctors weren't telling me that or offering it as an option.
"We had him on a very strict diet - a meat, fruit and vegetable diet, that's all we fed him at one period of time."
Further tests also found now 18-month-old Elliot was allergic to a number of things, including wheat, soy and dogs, since when the skin on his face has been clear.
Rachael shares her son’s progress through her TikTok account which has amassed more than 480,000 likes, comments and shares.
She added: “Feeding him a super-healthy diet cleared up his eczema. He was eating just meat, vegetables and fruit.
"He was eating meat, so mainly chicken. I had to buy everything and make sure it was all raw, organic and fresh.
"After his eczema got better, he started gaining a lot of weight and was a lot more active.
"He started talking and running around more, I think it delayed a lot, even his speech.
"He gained a lot of weight once he was actually thriving.
"Not all eczema is the same, everyone's is different so I think different things would work for different people.
"Keep researching and asking people. I think there's always a way to help it and to help it get better."
