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NYC woman, 24, suffers horrific life-changing burns due to extreme side effect of common drug taken by millions
A New York City woman lost her eyesight for months and had horrific burns after suffering an allergic reaction to a common medication.
Stella Shon — a healthy and active 24-year-old at the time — went to the hospital after struggling with brain fog and aches so bad 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 collapsed in intense feverish pain as a rash erupted on her forearms and cheek.
Then her eyelids crusted over and the rash turned to massive blisters that covered her head and torso. Her skin also started to peel off.
Stella Shon, from New York City, was 24 years old when she suffered a severe allergic reaction to a common medication
Her eyelids crusted over and the rash turned to massive blisters that covered her head and torso. Her skin also started to peel off
Ms Shon was taken to the ER where she was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a rare and serious disorder where the immune system sparks widespread inflammation in response to a medication.
The disease starts 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 percent of cases, but for those who develop the severe form — like Ms Shon — this rises to 50 percent.
Doctors could not pinpoint which medication caused her illness, but said it could have been the amoxicillin — or even the Advil and Tylenol she had taken earlier to treat her flu symptoms.
Antibiotics are a common risk factor for the disease, according to a 2023 study in JAMA Dermatology. In the disease, the immune system mistakenly identifies the medication as harmful and launches an attack — leading to widespread inflammation and the detachment of skin.
Ms Shon has now been advised to avoid all three medications, which she said has left her with few other ways to manage pain.
Writing about her hospitalization in TODAY just over two years later, Ms Shon said: 'Throughout that first night in the ICU, I was probed and prodded as several doctors took multiple biopsies from my left arm and placed a catheter into my bladder.
'My bodily systems were rapidly failing me.
'More sores developed down my throat and into my lungs, rapidly closing my airways and necessitating a ventilator.'
She is pictured above during her hospital stay. She said her eyes remaiend crusted over for months while she was being treated
The young woman was told she was suffering from Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, which has an up to 50 percent fatality rate
She is still recovering two years on, and is now working towards running in the New York City marathon this fall
A biopsy is where a small sample of tissue is removed from the body for testing, while a catheter is a flexible tube often inserted into the body to help drain fluids.
Ms Shon was in 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 had second-degree burns — as inflammation tore through her body's mucous membranes.
Doctors treated her with a heavy dose of steroids, to calm the immune system, and opioids, to help prevent septic shock — a potentially deadly complication.
Two weeks into her admission she celebrated her 25th birthday, and her ventilator — which had been inserted to help her breathe — was removed.
She lost nearly 25lbs while in the unit, and had to have daily physical therapy sessions to help her learn how to walk again.
Ms Shon has now regained her vision, but cannot cry because her glands that produce tears have suffered heavy scarring.
This means she 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 quit her former career to pursue travel writing — and regularly posts about hotel visits on social media.
As part of her recovery, Ms Shon has also set herself the goal of running the New York City marathon this fall.
She added: 'I'm approaching two years since my diagnosis this month, and while my good days are starting to outnumber my bad ones.
'My eyes remain the most painful reminder of the battle I've survived.'
Only about 300 people are diagnosed with SJS every year in the US, which is more common in adults.
Cases are often linked to antibiotics and painkillers, alongside other drugs including antibacterial sulfa drugs — used to treat acne, rosacea and eye infections.