Girl bullied over severe eczema so bad she was called 'snake-skin' becomes beauty queen

A woman who was subjected to a bullying ordeal due to her severe eczema has hit back against her tormentors - by being becoming a top beauty queen.

Shelley-Marie Sumner, 23, endured daily taunts of 'snake skin' throughout school due to the condition which affected her face and body and it left her desperately under-confident and considering self-harm.

But the dance teacher refused to cower away after she left school and when her eczema eased off she entered a local beauty pageant at the suggestion of her boyfriend.

Now she has had the last laugh after she was crowned Miss Black Country and went on to compete in the Miss England pageant.

Shelley, from Walsall, West Midlands said: "I was picked on every day at school because of my eczema and it shattered my confidence. I never dreamed I would have the courage to enter a beauty pageant, let alone win, but I've finally shown the bullies that their words won't hold me back any more."

Shelley-Marie had been born with sore red patches of eczema covering her body and although doctors told her mother Tracey-Marie that she would grow out of it, the condition only got worse. By the time Shelley-Marie was a toddler, she was covered from head to toe in eczema.

"It was really severe. My skin was always sticky and when my hair started to grow long, I had to have it cut short so it wouldn't get stuck to the eczema on my neck.

"It was in my eyes and the creases of my arms and legs. Mum used to bandage my hands up at night so I couldn't scratch myself in my sleep. I still try to sleep in gloves now to stop myself scratching, because it's become such a habit."

"At high school the bullying got much worse," she continued. "People would try and get away from me like I was contagious. We had to wear long-sleeved shirts so during the summer, I was always going to see the school nurse to put my eczema cream on and cool down.

"That definitely didn't help. Most of the bullying was during PE lessons when I wore shorts and everyone could see the rash all over my legs. I hated it - I always tried to get out of PE, which I regret now.

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Girl bullied over severe eczema so bad she was called 'snake-skin' becomes beauty queen