Madison Burgess
Dermatologist Sandra Lee, who is better known online as Dr. Pimple Popper, has revealed why she stopped filming for two months as she shared a shock health update.
For those unfamiliar with the 55-year-old TV star, she soared to internet fame after began uploading videos of her work and by 2015, had become a social media sensation.
While watching someone pop spots is not everyone's cup of tea, myself included, there's no arguing that it's oddly satisfying for some people.
In fact, people are so fascinated that her viral success led her to bag her own TLC series, which premiered in 2018 and ran for eight seasons.
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The dermatologist then went on to star in Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out, with the long-awaited second series airing on Lifetime on Monday (20 April).
But now, Lee has revealed that she had a life-altering stroke while filming on the set of the TV show in November.
Speaking to PEOPLE Magazine, she recalled: "It happened while I was filming the show. I had what I thought was a hot flash. I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself.”
Lee didn't realise what was happening at first, so after a day full of shooting, she went back to her parents’ house, where her symptoms got worse.
She explained, “I just felt very restless. In one leg, I kept feeling shooting pains."
The skin expert added that she was struggling to sleep, and when she got up to get something to eat, she noticed that she was 'having a tough time walking down the stairs'.
By the morning, she realised something was definitely not right.
"I would hold my hand out, and it would just slowly collapse. I noticed that I had a tough time articulating and just enunciating. I thought, ‘Am I having a stroke?’" Lee said.
Her dad told her she needed to go to the emergency room immediately, where, following an MRI, she found out that she had an ischemic stroke.
An ischemic stroke occurs when a vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed - they account for roughly 87% of all strokes.
She admitted: "It was just a shock. As a physician, I couldn’t deny that I had slurred speech, that I was having weakness on one side, but I was like, ‘Well, this is a dream, right?’ What essentially happened is I had a part of my brain that died."
The TV star immediately had to put a stop to filming and spent the next two months undergoing physical and occupational therapy to help recover and regain balance and movement.
As a surgeon, she was particularly worried about the grip on her left hand not being as strong, but thankfully Lee confirmed she is 'pretty much back to normal'.
She is on blood thinners and is continuing her physical therapy at home, but as per The TODAY Show, she sometimes still doesn't feel 100% like herself.
"I still have, sometimes when I get stressed, a little bit of a speech difficulty," she said.
Lee urged: “In Asian cultures in particular, they don’t tell people they’ve had a stroke because it can be seen as a sign of weakness. I want to get the word out that if you have symptoms like I had, make sure you see your doctor. Take care of yourself."
You can find out more about stroke symptoms on the NHS website.