Teenager Ashleigh Morris can't go swimming, soak in a hot bath or enjoy a shower after a stressful day's work - she's allergic to water.Even sweating brings the 19-year-old out in a painful rash.
Ashleigh, from Melbourne, Australia, is allergic to water of any temperature, a condition she's lived with since she was 14.
She suffers from an extremely rare skin disorder called Aquagenic Urticaria (水源性蕁麻疹) - so unusual that only a handful of cases are documented worldwide.
When Ashleigh gets wet her body explodes in sore, itchy red lumps that take about two hours to ease.
She has to wash. But showering is a painful experience and she can only do it for a minute at a time.
These brief showers are the only contact Ashleigh has with water. The one thing she doesn't miss is the washing up.
"People find it hard to believe, they say things like 'Oh my god, how do you wash.
Ashleigh's dermatologist, Professor Rodney Sinclair, told her the penicillin had altered the histamine levels in her body and caused the Aquagenic Urticaria to occur.
There is no cure and no successful treatment for the condition so the gravity of the situation began to dawn on the 14-year-old Ashleigh.
"I was in disbelief for a while, but I soon realised how serious it was.
"I cried for a few hours, then picked myself up, and kept going. I realised it was something I had to live with," she says.
So Ashleigh found ways to avoid water - she stopped doing sports and anything that made her sweat.
She makes sure she stays in air-conditioned places and always has an umbrella in her car. Her family and boyfriend of three years, Adam, 23, are very supportive but her condition makes intimate moments with her Adam a little difficult.
"We have to sleep with a sheet between us at night, and I can't go near him if he's sweaty," said Ashleigh.
Even the experts seem a little vague about Aquagenic Urticaria. (Daily Mail)
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