2024 doesn’t seem to be the year of health for people in the entertainment industry. On top of Amber Dowding who revealed her health scare, the year has seen presenters, actors and even the King in the hospital.
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Concerning Dowding, Mirror reports on 12 February that the actress was ‘rushed’ to the hospital concerning a massive and scary issue with one of her eyes. The actress herself shared the incident on Instagram where her followers can see images of the health scare.
What happened to Amber Dowding
Followers of the actress will know all about the incident but for those of us who have missed the Instagram stories, here is a round-up.
According to Mirror who is reporting on it, it started when the actress shared a picture of her eye with her followers. The picture showed her eye to be swollen, scarily so. Fans immediately reached out to the actress and urged her to see a medical professional.
A trip to the hospital let the actress know that she was suffering from periorbital cellulitis. However, after the initial diagnosis and trip to the hospital, Dowding’s symptoms didn't get better. Still, on Instagram she wrote:
My symptoms are not normal for periorbital cellulitis. My eye is so itchy, I’ve had a headache since Saturday. I've got complete blurred vision in my left eye.
Later on, she also told her fans on Instagram that the ‘swelling’ was ‘causing so much pressure around’ her ‘eye and head’.
Dowding went back to the hospital and was prescribed antibiotics. On 12 February, on another Instagram stories, it seemed like the issue still wasn’t resolved. The actress wrote:
the GP told me it was periorbital cellulitis (...) the eye specialist confirmed that’s what it was.
However, after visiting another doctor she was told it was a sty which she strongly disagrees with. After challenging the doctor, they said it could be blepharitis.
At the time of this article, no further update has been shared by the actress.
What are periorbital cellulitis and blepharitis?
Periorbital cellulitis
According to the NHS periorbital cellulitis is ‘an infective oedema of the eyelids and periorbital skin with no involvement of the orbit’.
Periorbital cellulitis can be caused by multiple things. The NHS explains that it can come up after a ‘minor injury to the eye’ or after an infection such as a cold which spread to the eye. However, they also specify that periorbital cellulitis can be caused by ‘Staphylococcus, streptococcus or Haemophilus bacteriae’.
The symptoms listed by the NHS include:
- ‘Painful/restricted eye movements
- Visual impairment
- Severe headache or other features of intracranial involvement
- General malaise/fever
- Inability to assess eye movements as unable to open the eye’
Blepharitis
The NHS explains that blepharitis ‘causes swollen, itchy eyelids’. They specify that the situation is usually not serious and can go away quickly if the patient washes their eyelid everyday.
The symptoms listed by the NHS are:
- ‘sore eyelids
- itchy eyes
- a gritty feeling in the eyes
- flakes or crusts around the roots of the eyelashes
- eyelids sticking together in the morning when you wake up’
The NHS also explains that blepharitis can be caused by ‘a type of bacteria that lives on the skin, a skin condition’ and ‘the glands inside the eyelids not producing enough oil’.
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Sources:
Mirror: TOWIE star Amber Dowding rushed to hospital with painful swollen face
