Dr. Pimple Popper Sandra Lee Reveals Stroke While Filming New Season: “Part of My Brain Died”

Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Dr. Sandra Lee , known as Dr. Pimple Popper, revealed she experienced a stroke while filming the upcoming season of Lifetime ’s Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out last year, leading production to halt for two months. In an interview with People published on Tuesday, the dermatologist recalled first noticing symptoms in November while seeing patients at her Upland, California, practice. “It happened while I was filming,” she said. “I thought I was having a hot flash. I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself.” Related Stories TV Lifetime Gets Into Microdramas With Taye Diggs-Produced Series TV Lifetime 2025 Holiday Movie Slate to Star Loretta Devine, James Lafferty, Zibby Allen, Vivica A. Fox Afterward, she went to her parents’ house, where her symptoms worsened. “I just felt very restless. In one leg, I kept feeling shooting pains, Lee said. “I noticed that I was having a tough time walking down the stairs.” The next day, her condition became more alarming. “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 went to the emergency room, where an MRI revealed she had suffered an ischemic stroke. “It was just a shock,” she said. “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?’ What essentially happened is I had a part of my brain that died.” Production paused for two months as Lee underwent physical and occupational therapy to regain control of her hands. She admitted returning to work was “very scary” and wasn’t sure she could perform surgeries the same way. “There’s a lot of PTSD because it happened while I was filming the sh...