Healing topical steroid withdrawal with Becky Bouterey

A Kiwi woman who once described herself as being “stuck in a prison for years” with debilitating topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) says she finally has her life back after travelling to Thailand for an intensive four‑month treatment programme.

In the latest episode of We Need To Talk with Toni Street, Becky Bouterey returns to update listeners on her extraordinary recovery following years of escalating symptoms linked to long‑term steroid use.

Becky first appeared on the podcast last year, sharing how her skin had deteriorated to the point where it was “just weeping and oozing,” leaving her waking up “stuck to my pillow because my face was thin.” She recalled rashes, burning, peeling, chronic itch, and months without proper sleep. “I’d been stuck in a prison… really, for years,” she told Toni.

With no effective treatment available in New Zealand, Becky reached breaking point. “I made the call, I need to stop these steroids. They’re not even helping,” she said. Her turning point came when she discovered a clinic in Bangkok using a non-invasive therapy called cold atmospheric plasma (CAP Therapy). The treatment uses an oxygen‑based device designed to increase cell turnover and kill infection, crucial for TSW sufferers, whose skin barriers are severely compromised.

Toni revisits the moment Becky left New Zealand for the unknown: four months away, weeks spent indoors due to skin sensitivity, and 48 hours of isolation after every weekly treatment. “It’s a big chunk out of your life to just leave the country for four months,” Toni said.

But improvement came quickly. “Within the first couple of treatments, I started noticing a difference,” Becky said. By week three she was sleeping through the night, “which I hadn’t done for years,” and by week 10 her skin was presenting “almost normally.”

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” she told Toni. “It gave me my life back.”

When Toni greets Becky on Zoom for the new episode, she’s visibly emotional. “You are looking so good… it looks like you’ve got your spark back,” she tells her guest.

“I do. Life is so good,” Becky replies.

She has since purchased her own plasma machine to continue maintenance therapy at home and now lives largely symptom‑free. Even a brief setback, linked to dust mites in her garage workspace, was quickly resolved once she identified the trigger.

A recurring frustration for both women is that this treatment still isn’t available in New Zealand.

“We don’t have it in New Zealand at the moment, which is a bummer,” Becky says, noting that many Kiwis contact her saying their rashes and pain mirror her symptoms, yet they have nowhere to turn.

Toni agrees: “Why do you have to go to Thailand to get this done?”

Becky says the response to last year’s episode has been overwhelming, with messages from people who finally feel seen. Many believed they had eczema that “no cream would fix,” only to discover their symptoms were more consistent with TSW.

Her message to listeners: recovery is possible, but often requires self‑advocacy. “No one was going to save me,” she says. “I had to save myself.”

Today, she’s grateful for the simple things: time with family, sleeping properly, walking, going to the gym, and waking up without pain. “I’m back living a normal life… I wake up happy. It’s just so good.”