My Story: Abby, living with atopic dermatitis

Abby, a content creator living with atopic dermatitis, discusses her experience with the condition and how she uses social media to share her story.

Transcript

00:00

AD is a condition that I of just started to accept and know that it will be part of my life

00:08

forever. As a kid, my eczema was all over my body. I just recall wearing long sleeves

00:17

to conceal my skin for as long as I can remember. AD has affected my life, especially in my self esteem.

00:25

I've often felt isolated. I didn't see a lot of representation and many people even talking about it. It was a condition that I felt like I had to hide, especially

00:34

because of the way that it made me look, the way it made me feel. But it wasn't until later in my adult life where I started being more open about my eczema.

00:40

LISA NICHOLS (VOICEOVER): Well, I woke up and I like myself today, so your like is extra. My job is to like me first. So I found my online support system,

00:48

like what many people did during the pandemic, I'm sure, is to download TikTok. And that started with me posting my first video about my eczema.

00:57

And it was a video of me getting my nails done. And that got a lot of positive feedback.

01:03

And ever since then, I've just been-- kind of found my niche in the TikTok community. NICKI MINAJ (VOICEOVER): You can't get rid of me [BLEEP]..

01:10

[AUDIENCE CHEERING] I'm not going nowhere. I'm not going no [BLEEP]-ing-ing where.

01:17

When I first posted that manicure video, it was scary. I never had seen anyone online be vocal or just showing

01:28

what their eczema looks like. Now I see other eczema accounts on Instagram, on TikTok,

01:35

sharing about their story as well. So really, I think it's just like a sense of community for something that I felt so isolated in for so many years.

01:44

Who cares. the most important thing is that people can relate to these. And people can relate so that they don't feel alone.

01:53

And that's why I make these videos. Speaking about my eczema on social media was a step getting closer to my family

02:01

because it gave me that drive to maybe I should talk about this to my partner or my friends and see how they can help me out when I have my worst flares.

02:10

It's OK if you want to hide your skin. It's OK if you want to share about it too. But just helping people gain their confidence

02:18

in their own skin is something that I want to bring out there to the world. [UPBEAT MUSIC]