Woman shows brutal impact of pregnancy on her skin, video gets 104 million views; doctor explains what caused it

A Malaysian woman's TikTok video reveals the drastic skin changes she experienced during pregnancy, garnering millions of views.

Recently, a video surfaced on social media by TikTok user @ayyitslala. The video, which has garnered 104 million views in just three days, shows how a Malaysian woman's skin completely changed after she got pregnant. She developed a red rash all over her face and is now trying to manage it, months after her baby's birth.

What is in the viral video?

The woman, who has shared her full name on her Instagram profile as Farah Faizal, mentioned that her face got red and she got textured skin when she was pregnant with her child. She did not mention what the diagnosis from her doctors was. People on the internet were shocked on seeing how severely pregnancy had affected her, leaving comments in the thousands.

A few mean ones even called it a good ‘birth control ad’ and asked her to sue her husband and even the baby for it. “If he asks her for another kid, she has the right to stab him," read a comment. "On today's episode of "1000 reasons you shouldn't get pregnant" we have THIS. no thanks."

Thankfully, she let her followers know that the condition is better since the birth of her baby. But people are still speculating what caused it in the first place.

What does the doctor say?

But what really happened to the woman? Dr Zachary Rubin has a few answers. He took to Instagram to share his assessment of the case with a video. He said, "I want to congratulate her on having her baby, and I hope she and her baby are doing well at this time. Pregnancy can affect various aspects of your physiology, particularly with hormones. It can lead to various rashes like what you saw.

“Now, I'm not here to diagnose her particular skin condition, but she did talk about getting a rosacea laser treatment, and so I want to raise awareness about one particular condition this might be, but again, I can't diagnose it. There is something that is a little bit unusual and rare called rosacea fulminans or pyoderma faciale, which is a severe kind of rosacea that almost looks like acne, but it's not, and it's these large red nodules that can be occurring throughout your face.”

“This skin condition usually affects younger women and comes on abruptly and rarely persists past about a year, and it can develop during pregnancy. This is a rare skin condition, so there's not really a standard of care, but various antibiotics and steroids have been tried for this. I'm very happy to see that her skin has significantly improved since she has been postpartum,” he said.

Updates since baby's birth

Even Farah gave her followers a happy update. She had been getting treatments at skin clinics and looking after her skin.

“I want to share my pregnancy journey. I'm grateful that I haven’t had any morning sickness since I got pregnant, and now it’s already 8 months. But my face has changed 100%. From this to this. P.S.: If you don’t have anything nice to say, please don’t reply. Please have some empathy. I just want to express my feelings.”

A few people even asked is her husband has been supportive of her through it all and she wrote, "I truly can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. My husband was my safe space throughout my pregnancy, calming every fear, holding me through every breakdown, and constantly reminding me that I was beautiful, strong, and loved. He attended every check-up without fail, and no craving ever felt too overwhelming for him.

“His love made everything feel manageable. I’ll never forget how deeply he cared for both me and our baby, even before the birth.”

For those leaving rude comments on her looks, she wrote with a collection of her older videos, “This is going to be my last video addressing this. I swear, I don’t owe anyone an explanation. But the truth is, it does affect my mental health when some of you carelessly dismiss what pregnancy hormones can do to a woman’s body, skin, and emotions.”

“Yes, I have acne scars. Yes, my skin has texture. Because I’m a human being, not a Barbie doll. Real skin has texture. Real people go through changes. And since so many of you are obsessed with seeing me without filters? Here I am. It’s okay to feel insecure. It’s okay to use filters. That doesn’t mean I’m hiding who I am. Filters don’t change my identity, they just smooth out what the camera often exaggerates. It’s still me, still my face, still my truth.”

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.