Glamorous soccer mom, 40, from Delaware has her forehead sewn back together after botched stitches caused flesh-eating infection

A woman had to have her forehead sewn back together after dozens of stitches led to a flesh-eating infection that left a hole in her head.

In September 2019, Shelley Puchalsky, a  40-year-old from Delaware, was jogging with her dog on a dirt trail when she tripped over her pet and fell face-first onto gravel.

With blood running down her face, the PhD student drove herself to the nearest hospital and had to get more than 40 stitches.

Little did she know, however, the sutures holding her skin together would result in botched plastic surgery, sepsis and a hole in her forehead so deep that it exposed her skull.

Shelley Puchalsky, a 40-year-old PhD student and mother of two from Delaware, was jogging on a dirt trail when she tripped over her dog and fell face-first onto gravel

'I have stopped taking pictures of myself and lost a lot of confidence that I once had,' she said

Several days after getting the stiches, Ms Puchalsky was able to have them removed but noticed her wound was growing and had pus oozing out of it.

Concerned over how this would scar her face, she visited a plastic surgeon who performed a skin graft.

A skin graft is a type of surgery where doctors take healthy skin from one part of the body and transplant it to the injured part. 

But a scar quickly became the last of her worries as she discovered the original stitches were infected and the procedure performed by the plastic surgeon only made her condition worse.

After the graft, her skin began to peel off so much that it created a three-millimeter-deep hole in her forehead - a gash so deep that her skull almost became visible.

Ms Puchalsky said: 'In hindsight, it was a botched surgery.'

Ms Puchalsky with her fiancé, David Miller, and their two sons

'My family continues to support me in every way that they can,' she said

The 40-year-old added: 'The surgeon took zero precautions to check for infection before placing the grafts and sutures. 

'It pushed the infection further down into the structures closer to the bone and allowed the infection to spread for a longer period, resulting in osteomyelitis of the skull.'

Osteomyelitis is inflammation of bone or bone marrow, which occurs when bacteria from nearby infected tissue or an open wound circulate in the blood and settle in bone, where they multiply. 

Ms Puchalsky added: 'After the surgery, I began to notice it smelled like my skin was dying.

'It was a rancid, putrid smell, and my skin was bright red. It also hurt to touch my nose really bad for a long time after, and I had a hard time wearing my glasses.

'Things only took a turn for the worse from there as the infection left the skin just falling off.

'It was terrible. It had eaten through my skin.

'There was a huge mango-sized hole in my forehead that just kept getting bigger, and you could actually see down to the bone.'

Getting tired of trying to contact the plastic surgeon about the infection, Ms Puchalsky returned to the emergency room.

The doctors were shocked but could not figure out what was wrong with her.

'My family continues to support me in every way that they can,' she said

After seeing 11 doctors over the course of a year, Ms Puchalsky was finally diagnosed with osteomyelitis after looking at her MRI results 

After tripping on a run, Ms Puchalsky drove herself to the nearest hospital with blood running down her face and had to get more than 40 stitches. After a follow-up procedure, her skin started to peel off so much that it created a three-millimeter-deep hole in her skull through which the bone almost became visible

After seeing 11 doctors over the course of a year, an MRI finally revealed Ms Puchalsky was suffering from osteomyelitis.

She said: 'I was diagnosed with bone inflammation, called osteomyelitis, inside my skull. Subsequently, I found out I was battling sepsis at the time.'

She had a major surgery in February 2021, in which she had to be cut from ear to ear to remove the infection and rework her skin grafts.

Ms Puchalsky was put on Vancomycin IV PICC, a powerful antibiotic used to treat infections caused by bacteria, for four months.

'This saved my life. I could tell I was getting better when my weight started to normalize, and I could breathe easier,' she said.

But all is still not well for Ms Puchalsky, as her infection has returned and she needs steroid injections to flatten her scarring, which cost $250 (£200) per shot.

Linda Evangelista, 58, still gets Botox after botched procedure 

Linda Evangelista had admitted she still gets Botox - despite a botched cosmetic procedure leaving her face 'brutally disfigured' after suffering from a rare reaction to the procedure known as CoolSculpting.

This treatment is not covered under her insurance so she created a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses.

Ms Puchalsky wishes to have reconstructive surgery on her face in the future before getting married to her fiancé, David Miller, a real estate developer.

She said: 'My family continues to support me in every way that they can.

'The most recent example is the Mother of the Year contest, which I decided to enter to win $20,000 to fund some of my medical expenses.

'My family and friends are cheering me on by sharing links and donating to help.

'It's things like that give me encouragement to face this condition.

'Even the smallest things, like sensing my fatigue or mood drops and asking me to take a break and rest, speak volumes about their unconditional love and support.'

As a result of the ordeal, Ms Puchalsky said she has lost friends, and her relationship with her fiancé suffered emotionally and physically.

She stopped going out and working as a realtor. She has lost four years of income, totaling $50,000, and her entire experience has cost her more than $100,000.

'Right now, I have a lot of scarring. I wear a lot of makeup, glasses, hats, and a wig to cover things up,' she said.

'I suffer from permanent paralysis on the left side of my face. I had to have my oldest son's birthday in the hospital bed one year.

'I have stopped taking pictures of myself and lost a lot of confidence that I once had.'