Sandra Lee, the star of Lifetime’s “Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out,” noticed slurred speech and bodily weakness before discovering she had an ischemic stroke.

Dr. Pimple Popper Sandra Lee had a stroke while filming her show: ‘I had a part of my brain that died’

Sandra Lee, the star of Lifetime's "Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out," noticed slurred speech and bodily weakness before discovering she had an ischemic stroke.

By Leigh Blickley

April 14, 2026 11:15 a.m. ET

Dr. Sandra Lee in 2025. Credit:

Kayla Oaddams/Getty

- Dr. Pimple Popper Sandra Lee suffered a stroke while filming her Lifetime series in November.

- Lee says she noticed slurred speech and weakness on her left side before going to the E.R.

- She is now focused on her health and well-being: "It reminds you to take better care of yourself."

Sandra Lee, best known as Dr. Pimple Popper, is opening up about suffering a stroke while filming her hit Lifetime reality series.

The dermatologist, 55, told PEOPLE that she noticed slurred speech and weakness on one side of her body before discovering she had an ischemic stroke, where blood vessels supplying the brain are blocked or reduced, depriving cells of critical oxygen and nutrients, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"It happened while I was filming the show," recalled Lee, who was shooting scenes with patients at her Upland, Calif., practice on Nov. 20. "I had what I thought was a hot flash. I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself."

She told PEOPLE that, after wrapping up her day, she "felt very restless" and couldn't sleep that evening. "In one leg I kept feeling shooting pains, she explains, noting that when she got up to get something to eat, she "noticed that I was having a tough time walking down the stairs."

By the morning, Lee knew something was seriously wrong as her left side wasn't functioning properly. "I would hold my hand out, and it would just slowly collapse," she recalled. "I noticed that I had a tough time articulating and just enunciating. I thought, 'Am I having a stroke?'"

Lee's father, also a dermatologist, urged her to go to the emergency room, where she received an MRI that revealed the stroke.

"It was just a shock," Lee said. "As a physician, I couldn’t deny that I had slurred speech, that I was having weakness on one side, but I was like, 'Well, this is a dream, right?' What essentially happened is I had a part of my brain that died."

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High blood pressure was a main risk factor for Lee's stroke, a health concern she says is more apparent to her in the aftermath of her health crisis.

"My blood pressure and my cholesterol were not under control, and I have a lot of stress in my life, dealing with my patients and the show," said Lee. "I want to think about it as a blessing in disguise. Because it reminds you to take better care of yourself."

Lee immediately halted filming *Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out* and spent the end of 2025 and the new year in recovery, where she underwent physical and occupational therapy to regain balance and movement.

As a doctor, she was especially concerned about her hands and maintaining the ability to continue to do her job.

"I don’t like that I don’t have total control of my left hand or the grip wasn’t as strong. If I feel like I’m not at my best—it’s very scary," Lee told the publication.

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When she returned to work in January, it was daunting. "There’s a lot of PTSD because it happened while I was filming the show," Lee explained. Still, her neurologist, Dr. May Kim-Tenser of USC’s Keck School of Medicine, said Lee is "lucky."

"Her symptoms are pretty much resolved," Kim-Tenser said, with Lee adding, "Thankfully, I’m pretty much back to normal. ... It really makes you realize how precious life is."

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