A young mother burned from the inside out in a rare but serious reaction to a friend's prescription antibiotic she took on Thanksgiving.
Yassmeen Castanada, 19, took her friend's pill because she wasn't feeling well. Her reaction to the drug started quickly when she felt a burning sensation in her eyes, throat and nose, her mother, Laura Corona told ABC News.
Castanada was rushed to the hospital when she felt the reaction starting. She was sedated and put on a ventilator.
"Her face changed within four days," Corona told ABC News. "I would wipe her face and all the skin was just falling off."
Castanada was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome - a rare, but serious reaction to a drug, reported ABC News.
The reaction could occur even when a patient takes a pill prescribed for them by a doctor, said Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a dermatology professor at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, who was not involved in treating Castanada.
"You're not truly burned, but what happens is you have compromised the skin barrier function," Zeichner said, explaining the condition.
The blistering on the skin from the condition is similar to burn blisters, so Castanada is being treated as if she were a burn victim.
Instead of being at her baby daughter's first Christmas, Castanada will be healing in a hospital bed.
As for Corona, she is praying for her daughter's survival.
"Heartbreaking, just unreal," Corona told ABC's southern California station KABC. "Just watching your daughter burn in front of you, literally burn in front of you."
