'Butterfly skin' hasn't held me back.. things just take longer to plan

Lisa tells how blisters put parents under suspicion

- SALLY HIND

A MUM has told how her rare “butterfly skin" wounds were so misunderstood as a child her parents were suspected of abusing her.

Brave Lisa Irvine, from East Kilbride, says she learned to live with epidermolysis bullosa (EB) - a cruel disorder that can cause the skin to blister at the slightest touch.

The 44-year-old said: “I don't like to say EB has held me back. Things just take that bit longer to plan but there is always a way around things.”

Before she was diagnosed, her family were thrown into a devastating child protection dispute that threatened Lisa's removal from the family home when her blisters were mistaken for cigarette burns.

Now Lisa, who has a daughter who also suffers from EB, has become an ambassador for butterfly skin charity Debra UK, which has helped her throughout her life.