A woman who suffers from an intimate skin disease that makes it agony to have sex is one of the desperate patients searching for a cure on the brand new series of Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies.
Sam, aged 44, shares painful details about her “broken vagina”, caused by an incurable inflammatory condition, on the first episode of the no-holds-barred show.
And the mother-of-one from Essex is delighted when she’s offered so-called “vampire” treatment to ease the chronic Lichen sclerosus that has plagued her for more than 30 years.
Sam opted to have a filmed consultation with Dr Jane Leonard, one of three new doctors fronting the popular programme that’s making a welcome return after seven years, even though it meant “getting your bits out on national television”.
GP Dr Jane, 38, manages to secure Sam some Harley Street specialist treatment involving platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections in her vagina, which work on the same basis as “vampire” cosmetic facials used by names like Kim Kardashian.
Sam had suffered from soreness and vaginal dryness since she was a teenager, and it’s had a devastating effect on her social and sex life.
Lichen sclerosus can affect any area of the body, but is more common in the genital area, causing sore and itchy white patches and skin that can bleed and split open.
Sam, who lives with her partner and their 17-month-old child, says: “I used to get it so badly I wouldn’t want to go out. I couldn’t wear tampons, thongs or jeans.
“I’d have to just keep still because it was so uncomfortable, and that went on for years.
“I went to the sexual health clinic and to see doctors but was constantly told it was thrush and advised to use creams such as Canesten.”
Then in 2011 Sam became desperately worried when her skin split during sex while she was away on holiday.
She went to see a private gynaecologist who took a biopsy and confirmed that Sam had lichen sclerosus.
Going on the show was the last resort after a raft of treatments that haven’t given her any lasting relief.
She has tried steroid and oestrogen creams, surgery where excess skin from her genitals was removed, and stem cell therapy on a clinical trial which did improve things for a while.
After giving birth by Caesarean section, the splitting during sex began to haunt her again over the past two years, leading her to the Embarrassing Bodies studio.
Now screening on E4, the show originally ran from 2007 to 2015.
Compulsive, but sometimes excruciating television, it smashed the taboo on revealing intensely personal health problems in front of millions of viewers.
Dr Jane, Dr Anand Patel and Dr Tosin Ajayi-Sotubo are the three new doctors replacing Dr Christian Jessen, Dr Dawn Harper and Dr Pixie McKenna.
Some may snigger, but patients who dare to reveal all have been largely praised as, like Sam, they are prepared to go through potential humiliation, not only to find relief but also to remove stigmas and encourage others suffering from similar illnesses to seek professional help.
Other patients featured include a man whose ear canal is constantly weeping smelly mucus and a 29-year-old woman whose gastric bypass surgery has left her with a huge “apron” of abdominal skin.
Embarrassing Bodies starts on Thursday at 9pm on E4 and All 4.
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