Dermatologist Sandra Lee, better known as Dr. Pimple Popper, revealed in November that she suffered a stroke while on the set of Lifetime’s “Dr. Pimple Popper: Breakout.”
“It happened while we were filming the show. I had what I thought were hot flashes,” Lee said in an interview with People magazine. “I was sweating so much that I felt sick.” At first, I didn’t know what was going on, and after filming that day I went back to my parents’ house, where my symptoms worsened. “I felt very restless. I kept having a throbbing pain in one of my legs.” Ms Lee also said she could not sleep and “found it difficult to walk down the stairs.”
Lee spent the night at his parents’ home, and by the next morning the condition of his left side had deteriorated significantly. “When I put my hand out, it just slowly fell apart. I found it difficult to speak clearly,” she told People. “I thought, ‘I think I’m having a stroke.'”
Lee’s father insisted he go to the emergency room, where an MRI scan confirmed he had suffered an ischemic stroke. “I was just in shock. As a doctor, I couldn’t deny that he had slurred speech and muscle weakness on one side, but I was like, ‘Well, this is a dream, right?'” she said. “Essentially what happened is that part of the brain died.”
Production on “Dr. Pimple Popper: Breakout” was paused for two months while Lee underwent physical and occupational therapy, specifically focusing on regaining control of his hands, which is essential for his work. “It happened while I was filming the show, so I have a lot of PTSD,” Lee said, adding that she feared she wouldn’t be able to do all the surgeries she had before the stroke.
But Lee said she is now “almost back to normal” and said the stroke was a wake-up call to take better care of herself. She stressed paying more attention to blood pressure, cholesterol and stress management.
Season 2 of “Dr. Pimple Popper: Breakout” begins April 20th. The season trailer released two weeks ago hinted at Lee’s medical emergency. “I don’t know how she is, but she’s in pretty bad shape,” someone told a group of Lee’s colleagues. Watch the trailer below.
