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Dr. Sandra Lee — a.k.a. Dr. Pimple Popper — is opening up about a recent health scare.
“It happened while I was filming [season 2 of Lifetime’s Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out],” Lee, 55, told People in an interview published on Tuesday, April 14, revealing that she suffered a stroke while seeing patients at her dermatology practice in Upland, California.
“I had what I thought was a hot flash,” she continued. “I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself.”
Lee spent the evening at her parents’ home near her practice, where she said she felt “very restless.”
“In one leg, I kept feeling shooting pains,” she said. “I noticed that I was having a tough time walking down the stairs.”
By the next morning, Lee said she knew something was wrong with her left side.
“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?’” she continued.
Lee’s father, also a dermatologist, told her to visit the emergency room for immediate treatment. A subsequent MRI confirmed that she suffered an ischemic stroke, which occurs when blood vessels supplying the brain become blocked and cells are deprived of nutrients and oxygen.
“What essentially happened is I had a part of my brain that died,” she told the outlet.
Lee added, “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?’”
According to Lee’s neurologist, Dr. May Kim-Tenser of USC’s Keck medical school, “The number one risk factor is high blood pressure. Almost a 15 percent increase in stroke prevalence among patients that are age 45 up to 64.”
Lee paused filming and spent two months in recovery, which included physical and occupational therapy.
“I don’t like that I don’t have total control of my left hand or the grip wasn’t as strong. If I feel like I’m not at my best — it’s very scary,” she said.
Kim-Tenser added, “She’s lucky. Her symptoms are pretty much resolved.”
Lee also reflected on what led to her stroke.
“My blood pressure and my cholesterol were not under control, and I have a lot of stress in my life, dealing with my patients and the show,” she explained. “I want to think about it as a blessing in disguise. Because it reminds you to take better care of yourself.”
Though Lee returned to work in January, she admitted that it was “very scary” to do so.
“There’s a lot of PTSD because it happened while I was filming the show,” she said. “Thankfully I’m pretty much back to normal. . . . It really makes you realize how precious life is.”
Lee concluded, “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.”
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