From Beauty To Beast - Nigerian Beauty Queen Suffers Terrifying Allergic Reaction To Eyedrop (Graphic Photos)

Marian Adejokun, a 24-year-old Nigerian beauty

queen, has been left scarred for life after a

horrific reaction to eye drops which left her skin

peeling off.

She spent more than 3-weeks in intensive care at

the Royal London Hospital where doctors

diagnosed her with life-threatening medical

condition called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

The condition causes the top layer of skin to die

and then shed – and is triggered by an allergic

reaction to medication.

Symptoms include skin rashes, blisters in the

mouth, ears and nose and swelling of the eyelids.

If left untreated the condition can result in death

– or trigger possible complications such as

blindness and lung damage.

Miss Adejokun’s ordeal began five years ago, in

2011, when she developed an itchy eye. Her GP

sent her to the chemist to get some eye drops

which she used before going to bed. But the next

morning she was horrified to wake up with lumps

all over her body.

As her condition began to deteriorate she was

rushed to hospital. As her skin began to shed she

was put into a medically induced coma – and

doctors warned her devastated mother she may

not survive.

Speaking about her condition, Miss Adejokun

said:

‘Unknown to me, I had a rare, deadly allergy to

eye drops which caused by skin to peel off from

head to toe. When I was in the intensive care

unit, crying in pain, all I thought of was coming

home.

Miss Adejokun’s mother, Remi, said the eye

medication left her daughter in such a terrible

state she ‘looked like Freddy Krueger’ from the

horror film Nightmare on Elm Street.

‘I hate to say that, but there were so many

blisters – her skin was just tearing off and her

lips were very swollen,’ she said.

‘I looked at her and I was so scared she was

going to burst open. I saw death knocking at my

daughter’s door, all because of eye drops.’

She continued: ‘I was crazy, beyond the worried

stage and near to losing my mind.

‘After a week I thought there was no hope – but

then as she lay on the bed, unable to talk, I said

“Marian, you’ve just made it to university, that’s

your dream” and she moved her toe.

‘Realising she could hear me I started to sing our

favourite songs to her. Instead of crying all the

time I went to the intensive care unit and

danced.’

Miss Adejokun lost so must skin she had to be

wrapped in a foil sheet and still has to be fed

through a hole in her throat. She said;

‘Everywhere was swollen. My nose was huge and

my eyes were so red you could take a spoon and

scrape out the blood.’

Even specialist skin experts told Ms Adejokun her

daughter was unlikely to survive.

But she defied the odds and pulled through –

with doctors hailing her recovery a ‘miracle’.

Five years on, Miss Adejokun has since gone on

to complete a degree in early childhood studies at

the University of Roehampton, and hopes her

story will inspire others to be grateful for what

they have.