Mum almost went blind after her face ‘doubled in size’ and was engulfed by a huge blister when she SCRATCHED her nose
A MUM-of-two almost lost her sight after scratching her nose caused a vicious skin infection that ravaged her face.
Anita Clark was terrified when her face doubled in size and a huge blister developed across both cheeks.
The community nurse from Clayton, Manchester, had no idea what was wrong until doctors noticed a small scratch inside one nostril.
They told the 50-year-old she had cellulitis, a life-threatening skin infection that can cause sepsis or kidney damage if it's not treated quickly.
I was terrified, at times I thought that my face would never go back to normal
Anita Clark
Anita fell ill in July last year, while gardening.
Thinking she was coming down with a cold, she went to bed and decided she would see how she felt in the morning.
But, the next day Anita was rushed to hospital after her face began to swell and she dialled 999.
It took five weeks for the swelling to go down, and doctors were worried it had damaged her eyes.
Anita, said: "I was terrified, at times I thought that my face would never go back to normal.
"I thought I'd end up with skin of an alligator, because the cellulitis made my cheeks really crusty.
SPOT THE DANGER You'll never pop a spot again after seeing what happened to this woman's face
"I was in hospital for nine days taking regular antibiotics to try and get the fluid out of my face.
"But the most nerve-racking thing was the idea that if the fluid went to my eyes, I would have gone blind."
After she was discharged from hospital, Anita still had to go back for months to get her eyes checked.
She said she first noticed something was wrong while she was out in the garden.
"I strangely started to feel run down and achy," she recalled.
"So I decided to have an early night to make sure that I felt better for work in the morning."
When she woke up, she started feeling hot and had a headache, but went into work anyway.
"My colleague looked at me and said 'Anita, your nose looks like Rudolph'," Anita said.
"When I looked in the mirror I realised it was really red at the tip, and it felt a bit hot but I didn't think anything of it."
She continued her day, but soon started to feel really hot and clammy, and was sent home to bed.
Anita said: "When I woke up when my husband, Dave, got in from work, I was flooding with sweat, really clammy and couldn't breathe properly.
"I phoned NHS 111 and told them my symptoms and they told me to get an ambulance, and they came almost immediately."
As soon as she was admitted to the Manchester Royal Infirmary hospital, medics prescribed dozens of antibiotics.
But, the next morning Anita's face began to swell up, and doctors revealed she was battling cellulitis.
She said: "They told me that my cellulitis may have been caused by make-up brushes, but I highly doubt that as I only ever use a blusher brush on my cheeks sometimes.
"It was then that they noticed a tiny scratch on the inside of my nostril.
"They think that either bacteria from when I was doing the garden had got in to the cut, or just sweat bacteria, had caused cellulitis in my face."
The next morning, Anita woke up, unable to see because her face had swollen so much that her eyes were forced closed.
Anita said: "Because my skin was so full of fluid it started oozing out of my skin.
"It gradually started to crust over and smell appallingly, but luckily due to the Linezolid I was on, that didn't last for too long.
"I had X-rays and eye scans to make sure that the cellulitis wasn't going to be fatal, or cause me to go blind or anything.
"Fortunately it didn't reach my eyes enough to make me go blind, so I thank my blessings for that."
Anita's face has since healed but her skin has been left highly sensitised, meaning she is far more prone to sunburn.
She explained: "Now, I have to make sure that I'm really careful in the sun and wear factor 50 on my face."
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