Teenager whose skin 'burnt from the inside out'

A teenage girl almost died on her birthday after suffering a one in a million toxic reaction to her epilepsy medication.

Danika Heron's skin began to burn from the inside out, after the new epilepsy medicine she was prescribed triggered an extremely rare illness.

She was struck down by Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and TENS - Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome - which caused severe burns to her organs and skin.

The rare reaction caused the skin on over half of her body to burn, blister, scab and fall off.

Her lips swelled so much they burst and she was wrapped from head to toe in bandages.

Miss Heron, from New South Wales, Australia, was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 18.

Shortly before her 19th birthday she was prescribed Lamictal and Keppra, two different epilepsy medications which help control seizures.

But on the day of her 19th birthday in May, she noticed her eyes and lips were swollen.

She developed a small rash on her chest which quickly spread over her entire body.

She went to a hospital in Sydney where doctors initially misdiagnosed her condition as herpes and sent her home.

Over a period of four days, Miss Heron's symptoms got progressively worse and her mother, Carmen Heron, 43 took her to another hospital in New South Wales.

There, she was diagnosed with foot-and-mouth disease, measles and chicken pox before tests revealed she had SJS and TENS and she was rushed to a hospital in Sydney for treatment.

These conditions cause large areas of the skin to peel, as well as blistering of the body's mucous membranes in the mouth, eyes, and vagina.

If left untreated they can cause permanent blindness, lung damage and death.

Although rare, SJS and TENS have been reported as side effects of Lamictal and Keppra, the two epilepsy drugs Miss Heron was taking.

Mrs Carmen Heron said her daughter's condition was so rare and severe it was touch-and-go as to whether she would make it through the night.

She said: 'I just cried when I saw her, she was staying at her boyfriend's at the time and his mum brought her over as Danika works in Sydney.

'She looked like death warmed up, the rash covered her body, her lips were huge and eyes and lips were weeping gunk.

'Over the next few days her condition got worse, she couldn't breathe and her neck had swollen so much she couldn't even drink.

'The rash was spreading and fast, she went through a box or more of tissues, dabbing her lips and eyes of gunk.

(dailymail.co.uk)