Tulisa Contostavlos has revealed she has finally received a diagnosis after suffering from debilitating health issues for 12 years. The 36-year-old N-Dubz singer and former X Factor judge described feeling as though ants were crawling across her face and that her cheek was on fire.
In 2020, she was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a temporary facial weakness. She turned to fillers to balance her face, but swelling kept recurring. This year, an ultrasound discovered three chronically infected cysts in her cheek.
Speaking on Olivia Attwood's podcast So Wrong It's Right, Tulisa said: 'I've 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.' She added that more cysts remain and will be removed in two months.
The symptoms worsened during N-Dubz’s 2022 reunion tour. 'I constantly felt like my cheek was on fire,' she said. 'I'd have good days and bad days and on some days, I'd take steroids.' She believes the cysts may have triggered her Bell’s palsy and other conditions, including sarcoidosis and immune disorders.
