In the News

Facing Up To Problems

Not long ago, Karen Thomas lived an isolated life. Suffering from severe acne, she became a prisoner in her home - afraid of the outside world. Now recovered, the 41 year old has set up her own helpline to offer others a guiding hand.
Rowan Entwistle met her.

It is difficult to imagine that 18 months ago, Karen Thomas looked and felt a completely different person. The angry red acne which disfigured her face was not just skin deep - it penetrated to the core of her being. I felt like a freak she explained. I constantly had people reacting to me and people would not want to come near me. I remember one woman saying I think you're really brave - if I looked like that I'd wear a paper bag over my head.

Karen first suffered from acne in 1996. She believes it was caused when she stopped taking a course of medication.

In response, instead of conventional medicene, Karen opted for alternative therapy and had weekly acupuncture. I decided I did not want to fight fire with fire and treat it with any sort of medication, so I decided to have acupuncture. Acne is a hormone imbalance and I did not want to take hormones to fight hormones. I am a great believer in alternative medicene. I wanted to do it naturally.

The acupuncture was successful. By 2000, Karen's face had cleared and her confidence started to return.

Over the next 18 months she found work at a local radio station, which she says helped her healing. Working there enabled my emotional recovery. Having to go into work and face people, I learned to cope. I describe that time as an emotional bungee jump and I think I went through about six of them!

But not long after, the acne returned. The trauma of the emotional recovery then led to the next bout of acne which lasted about three years, said Karen.

I got into the mindset of depression and very dark emotions and it was very difficult to break. The last bout of acne was as bad as the first. It really was shocking. My face looked like I had the plague - it was just one big rash.

So difficult was the situation that for more than a year Karen would only leave the Downham Market home she shares with her cats to go to the shops. It was the only contact she had with the outside world. The rest of the time, she lived a solitary life, seeing no one. I was dealing with it on my own. I had no support from my family and I was not in a relationship. It is only recently that my family realised how bad it was. … I think I was trying to protect them from it. It was tough - exceedingly tough.

The world we live in puts a great deal on self-image and beauty and being different is very difficult and isolating she said.

It was during this time that Karen responded to an advert on teletext, asking people to appear on a television programme called The Unluckiest Faces in Britain.

I wanted to share with the world what it's like to be on the other end of discrimination. Skin conditions are not well understood and I wanted to explain things to people. I know what it is like to feel discriminated against because of how you look, she said.

Meeting other people on the programme helped Karen. So too did the power of positive thought. She also learned that through controlling her emotions, she could control her condition. When I feel distressed my face comes out in sympathy. I have to keep a check on my emotions. Because acne is a hormone imbalance it reacts to stress and feeds off emotion - how I feel emotionally and mentally becomes reflected in my face.

Karen's face is now completely clear and she describes watching footage of last year's TV programme as watching another person. I feel completely different, she said. I have come out of this mentally 10 times stronger than I was before. I look at life differently now. I see the world for what it is. Before, I was very much a person responding to being a servant in the workplace. Now I feel empowered and I feel passionate about all that has happened to me. I have learned to love and respect yourself.

Karen, who has also appeared on Kilroy, is now hoping to help others through her experience.

If I had had the support out there it would have made the world of difference, she says. I felt so terribly isolated and alone. What I'm trying to do is give others the support I wanted but did'nt have.

© Copyright Eastern Daily Press. Monday December 8, 2003.