For a longtime, a journalist suffered from boils and cysts that were sometimes mistaken for acne.

"It took me three and a half years with hundreds and hundreds of these lesions and boils that burned and were so painful, I can't even describe to you," Jackie Nedell said.

Nedell is a longtime Washington journalist, but she's the one making news by going public about suffering from the rare and painful skin condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa or HS.

"I was so embarrassed, I had all these scars and boils on my back. When I went to the pool, I'd wear little t-shirts. I was just humiliated," Nedell said.

The cause of HS is unknown, but what it looks like were painful, lumps or boils that most often form in areas like the armpits, breasts, buttocks and the groin.

It affects more women than men, more African-American people than people of other races.

Nedell suffered for three and a half years before she finally found relief with Dermatologist Dr. Adam Friedman.

"This is a chronic condition we can't cure, we can only contain, but it's going to be a combination of local care, antibacterial, anti-microbial washes," Friedman said.

That's just the HS you can see. The disease is systemic, meaning it's inflicting damage on other organs through inflammation.

Friedman is using biologics to treat that.

"50 percent of people will have an inflammatory arthritis, many will have high blood pressure, diabetes, mental health disorders, clinical depression," Friedman said.

Nedell is now a year and a half into remission.

"And I feel like I'm a whole new person, and don't feel self-conscious, and most of the scars have faded – not all," Nedell said.

Nedell encourages people with HS to seek out the best therapy for relief of this disease.

If you suspect you have HS, check out hsconnect.org for more information.