Porn star's graphic timeline of monkeypox rash goes viral: 'Hard to look at'
A gay porn star has detailed his experience with monkeypox in a now-viral post on Instagram, sharing a collage of photos showing off his painful facial lesions.
Silver Steele, from the US state of Texas, contracted the disease early in July, he revealed, and days later, small pimple-like spots appeared around his mouth.
At first, Mr Steele thought it was "razor rash", he told Insider, but the spots soon began to change into something more severe.
Over a three-week period, the once-subtle markings turned into painful red blisters before scabbing over and eventually began to heal.
Timeline of virus symptoms
Mr Steele shared a timeline on his Instagram page to show his followers "what the virus looks like over time".
"My goal with this is not to gross anyone out, but to educate," he wrote alongside the image, posted on August 4.
In the first photo, taken on July 11, there are a few white dots just below his lip. Every few days, the collection of eight bumps get worse – growing in size and getting darker – until eventually, on July 30, they began to fade.
"Not everyone displays symptoms the exact same way," he wrote. "But I’ve been told by more than one professional that my case is a 'clinically perfect' example."
In a video shared on July 25, when his blisters had turned to scabs, Mr Steele admitted the sight was "hard to look at".
But he asked everyone to "be a little compassionate and to understand" what he must be going through as the lesions are as painful as they look.
Flu-like symptoms and 'stabbing' pain : 'Pretty intense'
Mr Steele revealed in the comments that the symptoms appeared "about 7-8 days" after being exposed, and the painful rash came alongside other symptoms too.
The porn star noticed that his "lymph nodes were swollen, it was hurting to swallow and I was just having trouble moving," he revealed.
A doctor reportedly confirmed he had contracted the virus and he soon developed a fever, chills, and night sweats, Insider reported.
The face lesions began to hurt 48 hours after appearing. He also developed sores on his gums, throat, legs, and hands.
"It hurt most when I ate. But there were times when I was literally just sitting there watching TV and all of a sudden it's just like knives stabbing you," he said. "The pain was pretty intense."
A classic case of monkeypox typically starts with early flu-like symptoms, then a rash will appear within five days, Dr. Scott Roberts, associate medical director of infection prevention for the Yale School of Medicine, told US-news site TODAY.
Sometimes the rash and flu symptoms can be present at the same time, and some people have no flu symptoms at all.
People still unsure of monkeypox symptoms
The social media post has gone viral as the world struggles to understand more about monkeypox.
The post attracted thousands of comments from people quizzing Mr Steele about his symptoms, interested to know more.
Earlier this month, a woman was kicked off a flight after her eczema was supposedly "mistaken for monkeypox".
She called on people to understand what the disease looks like claiming anyone with a "visible non-contagious skin condition" is now being accused of having monkeypox.
Mr Steele said he "started to feel human again" around day 18, Daily Mail reported.
In another post, he wrote that his scabs had fallen off by day 22, which was the end of his contagious period.
According to the CDC, there have been just over 38,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox across 93 cases, including Australia.
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