A teenage girl newly diagnosed with a rare water allergy affecting just one in every 230 million people has revealed taking showers can feel like “being doused in gasoline and set on fire” – and she can’t even cry at the pain because her own tears bring her out in agonising hives.
Just four months ago, Sadie Tessmer, 14, was diagnosed with aquagenic urticaria, a condition which causes a person’s skin to develop red itchy hives after exposure to water, and could be life-threatening if she suffers a bad enough reaction.
