N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos has discovered the cause of her “horrific” health issues after 12 years.
In a new interview, she spoke about how she had looked for help from various doctors after feeling as though there were ants crawling across her face and like her “cheek was on fire”.
The former X Factor judge, 36, opened up about her health scare on Olivia Attwood‘s podcast So Wrong It’s Right, explaining that despite her Bell’s palsy diagnosis in 2020, she continued to suffer from health issues, which caused her face to swell up.
Bell’s palsy is temporary weakness or lack of movement that usually affects one side of the face.
Eventually, this year, one doctor did an ultrasound that revealed the star, who is rumoured to be going on I’m a Celebrity next month, had “three chronically infected cysts” in her cheek.
Speaking about the cysts, one of which popped during an operation, Contostavlos said: “I have no idea what they were caused by, they weren’t filler, they were just self-occurring, but I came out of the operation and instantly my face was less swollen.
“There’s some still there so I still have the inflammation, but it’s way less. In the next two months, he’s going to go in to get those ones.”
The singer said she has used fillers over the years to “balance out” her face due to the effects of Bell’s palsy, but said that her facial swelling kept recurring.
“I would have tingling sensations like little ants crawling in my face,” she said. “I started seeing doctors all around the UK – ‘Something’s wrong with me, what’s wrong with my face’ – it was so scary. This went all the way up until this year, it was horrific.
“I constantly felt like my cheek was on fire. I’d have good days and bad days, and on some days, I’d take steroids, which would bring it down.
“When I was doing that N-Dubz run [in 2022], it was at its worst, so you might see an interview, I look normal. And then you see another interview, it’s like, what the hell is going on with my face?”
She explained: “And I’ve had all these health problems for years – sarcoidosis, immune disorders – and this explains all the symptoms that I was getting and could have been causing Bell’s palsy because in total there was, I think, six of them [the cysts]. They could have been growing over the years, actually triggering the Bell’s.”
Alongside Contostavlos, other stars rumoured to be entering the I’m a Celebrity jungle include Coleen Rooney and Tommy Fury. Read the full list of celebrities expected to star on the ITV show, which starts on 17 November, here.
