AN ALLOA woman who has been living in "constant pain" due to a relatively unknown skin condition is campaigning to encourage more sufferers to come forward.

Jen Napier, 33, was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) last year, despite suffering the debilitating affliction for years.

She says she had been too embarrassed to seek help because of the nature of the disease which is said to affect about 50,000 people in Scotland to some degree.

HS is a lifelong condition that causes boil-like abscesses and scarring on the skin – usually around the groin, buttocks, breasts and armpits.

It is sometimes mistaken for acne, folliculitis, and other conditions.

Without medical treatment, HS can lead to severe pain and drastically impact on the sufferer's quality of life.

After years of suffering in silence, Jen is now hoping the condition could be better understood so that more people can get treated early.

She told the Advertiser: "Anyone who doesn't have it, just cannot understand how painful it is.

"It is debilitating; the pain you get is unbelievable and it just seems to define your life.

"What's worse is that it is mostly hidden. If you were to look at me you'd think there was nothing wrong with me."

The disease tends to start with a firm pea-sized lesion developing in one place. This either goes away on its own or ruptures after a few hours or days, to ooze pus.

Often, new lumps will soon appear in an area nearby. If these are not controlled with medication, larger lumps may form and spread. Narrow channels, called sinus tracts, also form under the skin that break out on the surface and leak.

The exact cause of HS is unclear, but the bumps and spots appear to be the result of blocked sweat glands and hair follicles.

However, the disease is not infectious and is not linked to poor hygiene.

Jen added: "HS ravages your skin, and leaves your body disfigured. My body is covered in scars.

"Some of the abscesses can literally tunnel under the skin – it's like some sort of Medieval plague.

"A lot of people can also have open or leaking wounds. I need to take spare clothes with me in case something happens at work or something.

"It's also quite an embarrassing condition and there will be lots of people out there suffering in silence because they don't want to go to their doctors.

"I was diagnosed at 32 but I've had these abscesses since I was a teenager. I didn't tell anyone until recently, not even my family.

"All those years trying to deal with it myself, not knowing what was happening to me was really awful. But having a name for – knowing that it's a medical condition and that it's not my fault – really has been liberating.

"I know that I'm not alone; that there are people out there with the same condition. There are 50,000 people in Scotland with HS.

"I know what it can do for your confidence, I am a member of online forums that act as a bit of a support group. I can tell you there are lots of people out there struggling with this but many are embarrassed to get help.

"You hide and hope it goes away but it will only get worse without treatment."

Current treatments often have a range of dangerous side effects such as high blood pressure, kidney and liver problems, blood disorders, infection and cancer of an organ.

As a result, patients such as Jen are forced to decided between "a life of pain or the possibility of developing cancer."

She added: "What we need to do is make hidradenitis suppurativa a household name. Once the condition is better understood, more people will come forward and be diagnosed, meaning there will be more research done into developing a cure or at least a manageable treatment.

"So in the meantime, I would say to anyone that has recurring abscesses to go see their doctor, mention HS and get referred to a dermatologist. There's no reason why people should suffer alone."

Anyone looking for more information on hidradenitis suppurativa can visit www.hstrust.org