As anyone who has ever suffered with any dermatological issue will know, having skin problems can seriously affect a person's life. Aside from being painful and sore, skin problems such as acne can also cause the sufferer a great deal of social anxiety or even depression - and the cost of treating these conditions quickly racks up.
So, after suffering from severe acne for eight years, 25-year-old Emily McClarron decided she'd had enough.
"It was awful," she said. "I’d try and cover up the spots with make-up and just felt so down and depressed about how I looked. All I would see when I looked in the mirror was the acne."
McClarron did everything she could think of in order to fix her skin, but nothing worked. In fact, some things even made her face look worse.
"I had bad reactions to everything," she said. "I had a rash all over my body and my face swelled up like I had been stung by a wasp.
"With one gel I even felt like the top layer of skin had burnt off. I begged my doctor to refer me to a dermatologist, hoping they would be able to suggest something else."
After years of this, McClarron felt helpless.
"I was at my wits’ end. My skin was so bad, strangers asked me ‘What’s wrong with your skin?’, called me a ‘spotty freak’ and ‘pizza face’ which hurt a lot."
But that all changed three months ago, when the 25-year-old discovered cannabis oil.
McClarron had already been using a homemade treatment of honey and turmeric to soothe her skin - which helped a little - but it wasn't until she started taking a 10mg cannabis capsule every day that the difference really became clear.
The pills contain CBD oil but not THC (the cannabinoid in marijuana that creates a high), therefore meaning that they are legal and can be purchased fairly easily. McClarron claims that using the oil has reduced her stress levels massively and, in turn, eliminated a huge trigger of her breakouts.
"Since I started taking the capsules, combined with homemade skin products, people have told me how amazing my skin looks," she explained.
"When I tell them it’s down to cannabis capsules, they do ask if it’s legal, which of course it is. Before this, if I was feeling anxious, I’d have a really bad break-out if, but the tablets have made me feel much calmer, so I am not getting the terrible acne I was. The cannabis hasn’t cured me, but it has helped take control of my severe acne once and for all."
Before the treatment, McClarron wouldn't even feel comfortable leaving the house. Now, however, she has a new lease of life.
"Now my skin is 99 per cent better. I still have some scarring, but now I have been able to have treatment to help them, and even finally feel confident to go out without make-up on, which I never did before.
"I have got to the point where I don’t care what people think, I feel so happy with the way I am."
Since discovering the treatment, McClarron has started selling cannabis oil to help others in similar situations, and hopes to market her homemade skincare products, too.
