A New York City woman lost her sight for months and suffered horrific burns after suffering an allergic reaction to a common medication.
Stella Ston, a healthy and active 24-year-old at the time, went to the hospital after suffering mental confusion and pain so severe she couldn’t walk even a few blocks.
Doctors thought she had a bacterial infection and prescribed her the antibiotic amoxicillin, but shortly after taking her first dose she collapsed with severe feverish pain and a rash developed on her forearms and cheek.
Then, scabs formed on her eyelids and the rash turned into huge blisters that covered her head and torso. The skin also began to peel off.
Stella Ston of New York City was 24 when she suffered a severe allergic reaction to a common medication.
Her eyelids became crusted over and the rash developed into huge blisters that covered her head and torso. Her skin also began to peel off.
Ms. Ston was taken to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), a rare and serious disorder in which the immune system triggers widespread inflammation in response to a drug.
The disease begins as a flu-like illness, followed by a painful rash that spreads and blisters, before the top layer of skin dies and falls off.
It is fatal in about ten per cent of cases, but for those who develop the severe form, like Ms Ston, this figure rises to 50 per cent.
Doctors could not pinpoint exactly what medication caused her illness, but said it could have been amoxicillin, or even the Advil and Tylenol she had previously taken to treat flu symptoms.
Antibiotics are a common risk factor for the disease, according to a 2023 study in JAMA DermatologyIn case of illness, the immune system mistakenly identifies the drug as harmful and launches an attack, causing widespread inflammation and skin shedding.
Ms Ston has now been advised to avoid all three medications, which she says has left her with few options to manage her pain.
Writing about his hospitalization in TODAY Just over two years later, Ms Ston said: ‘During that first night in ICU, I was probed and prodded while several doctors took multiple biopsies from my left arm and placed a catheter into my bladder.
‘My bodily systems were failing me rapidly.
‘More sores developed in my throat and lungs, quickly closing off my airway and necessitating a ventilator.’
Pictured above, he is seen during his hospital stay. He said his eyes remained covered in scabs for months while he was receiving treatment.
The young woman was told she suffered from Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which has a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.
Two years later, she is still recovering and is now working toward running the New York City Marathon this fall.
A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from the body for testing, while a catheter is a flexible tube that is often inserted into the body to help drain fluids.
Ms. Ston was at Weill Cornell Medicine’s burn center on the Upper East Side for a month in 2022 while doctors treated her condition.
Although she was not a typical burn patient, the allergic reaction had been so severe that she suffered second-degree burns (the inflammation broke through the mucous membranes of her body).
Doctors treated her with a high dose of steroids, to calm her immune system, and opioids, to help prevent septic shock, a potentially life-threatening complication.
Two weeks after her admission, she celebrated her 25th birthday and was taken off the ventilator that had been inserted to help her breathe.
She lost nearly 25 pounds while in the unit and had to have daily physical therapy sessions to help her learn to walk again.
Ms Ston has now regained her vision but is unable to cry because her tear-producing glands have been severely scarred.
This means he suffers from severe dry eye syndrome and also had to undergo glaucoma surgery earlier this year, which is when doctors operate on the eye to improve vision.
After the illness, she also left her former career to devote herself to travel writing and regularly posts about hotel visits on social media.
As part of her recovery, Ms. Ston has also set a goal of running the New York City Marathon this fall.
She added: ‘I’m approaching two years since my diagnosis this month, and although my good days are starting to outweigh the bad.
“My eyes remain the most painful reminder of the battle I have survived.”
Only about 300 people are diagnosed with SJS each year in the U.S., with the syndrome being most common in adults.
Cases are often linked to antibiotics and painkillers, along with other medications including antibacterial sulfonamides, which are used to treat acne, rosacea and eye infections.
