Kiwi artist battling topical steroid withdrawal fundraising for treatment to get his ‘real skin back’

An Auckland-based artist living with debilitating symptoms of topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) believes his dermatologists initially failed to recognise the condition. Now, he’s fundraising for treatment overseas in the hopes it will give him his “real skin back”. Te Rima Whakatau, 30, says he relied on steroid creams prescribed by his GP to treat his eczema as a child.

Looking back, he feels he and his family “weren’t taught exactly how to use them correctly”. “We were kind of naive to it and would just slap it on like a sunscreen,” the artist, originally from Taranaki, tells the Herald ..