On Sunday's "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," the reality beauty discovered that she has psoriasis, an autoimmune disease that causes red, scaly spots to appear - usually due to stress.
"Psoriasis!? I cannot have psoriasis," Kim told her dermatologist, after he tells the newly engaged Kim that psoriasis is "not curable, but it's controllable."
"People don't understand the pressure on me to look perfect. When I gain a pound it's in the headlines. Imagine what the tabloids would do to me if they saw all these spots!" Kim said in the episode filmed in April.
The reality star, whose mom Kris has dealt with psoriasis since she was 30, began to stress about how her skin condition could affect her modeling career.
"I have to wear a sports bra and I have this rash all over my stomach," she said, referring to an upcoming campaign with Skechers. "'What will the producers say? In a photoshoot they can just Photoshop it out, but this is on video. They can't hide this."
The National Psoriasis Foundation issued a statement about Kim's plight, saying that she is among 7.5 million Americans who also have psoriasis, which they note is not contagious. The organization said it rarely appears on people's faces and is present most often on the scalp, knees, elbows and torso.
