Pimple turns into bruises all over body — doctors can’t help

A teen was left horrified after her seemingly innocuous pimple morphed into a bruise-like mass that enveloped her entire face — leaving doctors baffled.

Nancy Morel, 18, frequently shares her dermal journey to her more than 101,000 followers on Instagram.

The burgeoning blonde social media influencer, from Buckinghamshire, UK, and one of a family of nine children, experienced her first flare-up when she was 13.

“I was in school and my lip started swelling up out of nowhere, it was completely random and the school nurse said it meant I was allergic to ibuprofen,” the horrified teen said. “They thought I had taken ibuprofen in school which I hadn’t but they did not believe me because of the reaction.”

Staffers rushed the teen to the hospital, where doctors confirmed that it was not an allergic reaction and advised her to go home and keep an eye on it, she claimed.

Unfortunately, “the swelling stayed and this bruise appeared on my lip for a few days,” Morel lamented of the affliction, which haunts her to this day. “There isn’t much I can do when it flares up, nothing really works.”


A composite of Nancy Morel.
Nancy Morel, 18, was horrified after her innocuous-seeming pimple seemingly snowballed into a bruise that enveloped her entire face. Eventually, the unexplained blotches spread to her legs, feet and stomach.

Morel during a flare-up.
Morel documents her dermal journey for her over 100,000 Instagram followers. She has spent the last half-decade visiting hospitals, undergoing skin biopsies, and receiving treatment but to no avail as her condition hasn’t improved.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

Eventually, the facial blotches spread to her legs, feet and stomach.

Morel told Media Drum World she has spent the last half-decade visiting hospitals, undergoing skin biopsies and receiving treatment but to no avail, as her condition hasn’t improved.

Now, she frequently shares Instagram videos juxtaposing her face before and after a major flare-up.

“Now it is just all over me quite a lot of the time,” said Morel, who claimed she can predict when a breakout is coming a “few hours before,” as she starts experiencing a slew of symptoms.


Morel.
“After that initial reaction it spread to my legs, my feet, my stomach, my face and now it is just all over me quite a lot of the time,” said Morel.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

Morel.
Morel’s first flare-up occurred when she was 13.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

“It is almost an instinct I have now I know when it is going to come up,” explained the social media star. “I start feeling really sick and lightheaded.”

Perhaps the most noticeable sign of an imminent breakout is the excruciating pain, which reportedly affects her face most seriously, she said.

Morel added, “The best way I can describe the pain is when you are at the end of having pins and needles and you get that sharp stabbing pain coupled with a throbbing bruising pain at the same time.”


Nancy Morel.
“I had a lot of tests and three skin biopsies. They couldn’t pin it down to one thing specifically. They told me they were pretty sure it was a skin condition called urticarial vasculitis,” said Morel, 18.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

She says there’s no way to mitigate the agony, explaining: “I take paracetamol just to take the edge off the pain but it doesn’t work very effectively.”

Morel also applies ice if her rash is burning really badly, but says this only provides a “nice sensation” while doing nothing to “make the bruising go away.”

She found the condition particularly vexing as her twin sister, Tilly, does not share her affliction.

Hoping to get some answers, Morel reported her condition to a doctor, but says this only resulted in a misdiagnosis.

After conducting a series of tests and three skin biopsies, Morel alleged docs incorrectly deduced that she had urticarial vasculitis, a “condition characterized by inflammation of the small blood vessels in the skin,” per the Mayo Clinic.


Morel between breakouts.
After years of frustrating medical visits, Morel said she just wants to deal with her condition on her own.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

“Urticarial vasculitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the small blood vessels in the skin,” the medical authority states on its website. “Signs and symptoms include an itching and burning sensation in the affected skin. Lesions (wheals) caused by urticarial vasculitis may also leave behind a bruise.”

It wasn’t until three years later — after Morel had been reporting to the hospital three or four times a week and receiving regular steroid injections — that doctors allegedly realized they’d gotten it wrong.

“For three years I was going to the hospital under the guise of having that diagnosis but then after they had been treating me for three years and kept testing my skin it wasn’t behaving like urticarial vasculitis,” Morel claimed. “It didn’t look like how that skin condition looks so then they undiagnosed me with that.”

Morel described the saga as “extremely deflating [since] I was 16 at the time and they basically told me there was nothing they could do to investigate it more until I was 18.”


Morel says she knows a flare-up's coming because she experiences symptoms ranging from nausea to extreme pain.
Thankfully, Morel’s skin condition isn’t present all the time.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

Despite reaching the designated age, the Brit says she doesn’t want to return to the hospital “because was all just too much on me emotionally.”

Not to mention that her follow-up appointments have proved equally fruitless, as doctors remain stumped over her condition, she said.

However, Morel claims that she has received an overwhelmingly positive reaction online.

“People are genuinely very kind about it. I don’t think I have had any bad experiences that have left me shocked,” she said. “Considering I am a teenage girl who has this unusual skin condition I think it is a really good sign that people are so kind about” the condition.

Morel added, “Everyone is always willing to learn about it and find out more.”

In the event that her bruises draw stares, she convinces herself that it’s because she looks “different” and “unique.”

“It is a really amazing thing to look unique, if you have something that isn’t what a lot of people your age have, or even just something not a lot of people have, take it as a positive and work around it in a positive way,” Morel declared.


Morel.
“They thought I had taken ibuprofen in school which I hadn’t but they did not believe me because of the reaction,” said Morel.
mdwfeatures/Nancy Morel

Morel also claimed that people have told her “my skin makes me look really beautiful and it makes them feel special being able to see it.”