Beaconsfield mum with painful skin condition hits out at Prince Andrew

Amy O’Connell from Beaconsfield went under the knife after being diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa, which leaves sufferers with painful lumps.

She had her lymph nodes, hair follicles and sweat glands removed - which means she now doesn't sweat from the neck down, she says,

The 38-year-old now finds hot weather intolerable and can even faint, she claims.

She has also blasted Prince Andrew's "audacity" after he claimed in a BBC interview that he doesn't sweat.

The royal said he couldn't physically sweat when questioned about sexual assault allegations.

Amy said: "Your body has to sweat or you die – we were laughing at the audacity of Prince Andrew. It was so infuriating - it’s like saying, 'My body forgot how to breathe'.

“Sweating is such an issue that I can’t be out when it’s too hot as my body can’t function and I black out.

“It’s a lifelong journey with no end to this, it’s a battle of finding new ways to cope and deal with it."

Amy says the condition first started to show itself when she hit puberty as a teenager. She wasn’t diagnosed until 2009.

In 2013, she underwent painful surgery on her left armpit to remove lymph nodes, sweat glands and hair follicles.

This was followed by similar surgery under her breasts in 2014 and again on her right arm in 2017.

Her sweating problem then followed - and she says she is still adjusting to life now.

Amy said: “There’s not any rhyme or reason to the flare-ups.

"After another year of going through different specialists, a dermatologist said in Europe the treatment is just to cut it out and asked if I wanted surgery.

“I had operations on arms first and had to have therapy as the scarring was dramatic.

“I had an operation on my left arm and it changed my life.

“But my children couldn’t look at me when I came back, I looked like I’d been put together in a Saw movie, it was very graphic for how small the procedure should have been.

“My body took a long time to adjust, I’d say I’m still adjusting now - I go from alright to really really hot really fast.

“It’s not actually that rare but when you have them on your boobs, groin and armpits, no one wants to talk about it.

“My mental health is the main thing, but it’s so physically painful because it’s in all the places you have high levels of movement."