Before and after selfie reveals the true impact of heroin addiction

Last week, a 24-year-old woman named Courtney posted two selfies to Reddit. The distinct photos show the before and after of recovering from a heroin addiction.

The photos were captioned, "Here is what 826 days sober looks like. Recovery is possible!"

The young mother wrote that after spending a short time in jail and having her daughter sent to live with her mother she fell into a deep depression and leaned to her abusive boyfriend for emotional support. She eventually turned to heroin.

Courtney landed back in jail after 8 months, but started her journey to sobriety. After being sober for 826 days, she decided to share her before and after pictures to inspire others.

She wrote: "I stumbled upon my mug shot kinda by accident today and couldn't believe it was me. It made me sad for that girl and I wanted to show her where she will be in two years. But then I realize that girl is out there, she's not me anymore. But there is another addict out there who is at their rock bottom and needs to see that they can make it out alive."

She explained that if just one person decides to get clean because of her post, it would make it all worth it.

These before and after photos show the true effects of heroin abuse: