Sandra Lee Details Terrifying Health Scare

Sandra Lee, better known as “Dr. Pimple Popper,” was filming Season 2 of her Lifetime series Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out when she dealt with a scary health issue that she later found out was a stroke.

Her first symptoms were a “mild slurring” of her speech, she told People. “I had what I thought was a hot flash. I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself,” the dermatologist shared.

Things got worse as the evening progressed. Lee recalled feeling “restless” and then having “shooting pains” in one of her legs. “I noticed that I was having a tough time walking down the stairs,” she added.

It wasn’t until the next morning, though, that she started to figure out what might be wrong. “I would hold my hand out, and it would just slowly collapse,” Lee revealed. “I noticed that I had a tough time articulating and just enunciating. I thought, ‘Am I having a stroke?’”

An MRI at the hospital confirmed that she’d had an ischemic stroke, which happens “when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in your brain,” per Cleveland Clinic.

Production on Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out shut down as Lee spent the next two months in recovery. She had to relearn “very basic things” in physical and occupational therapy. In hindsight, Lee realized her blood pressure and cholesterol were “not under control” before the stroke.

Now, she’s “pretty much back to normal,” although returning to film the show in January was “very scary,” Lee admitted. “There’s a lot of PTSD because it happened while I was filming the show,” she shared. She continues to monitor her condition by taking blood thinners and doing physical therapy exercises at home.

“I want to get the word out that if you have symptoms like I had, make sure you see your doctor,” Lee concluded. “Take care of yourself.”

Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out, Season 2 Premiere, Friday, April 20, 9/8c, Lifetime