Portsmouth teen’s allergic reaction was actually a boney tumour

A teenage girl thought she was having an allergic reaction to her false eyelash glue, but discovered it was a tumour growing behind her eye.

Megan Barker, 19, went to a drop-in centre at her local hospital after friends and family noticed that her left eye was swelling shut, and suggested that it might be an allergic reaction to the false eyelashes she regularly wore.

However, after tests and scans with eye specialists at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, it was revealed the teenager had a benign ‘mass’ growing behind her eye.

Megan Barker after surgery to remove a tumour from her sinus

Megan Barker, 19, went to a drop-in centre at her local hospital after friends and family noticed that her left eye was swelling shut

A teenager has told how a tumour in her head gave her 'wonky eyes' - but she blamed it on party pre-drinks

A teenager has told how a tumour in her head gave her ‘wonky eyes’ – but she blamed it on party pre-drinks

Megan Barker, 19, was Facetiming her boyfriend Luke Mayes in the taxi on the way to her work Christmas party when he spotted her "uneven" eyes

Megan Barker, 19, was Facetiming her boyfriend Luke Mayes in the taxi on the way to her work Christmas party when he spotted her ‘uneven’ eyes

WHAT IS OSSIFYING FIBROMA? 

It is a slow-growing, benign growth, occurring most often in the jaws, especially the lower part.

The tumor is composed of bone that develops within fibrous connective tissue.

It’s more common in women than men. 

Despite being benign, they can be grow very aggressively.

They tend to reduce naturally over time. For especially aggressive lesions, surgical action is often required, although this may not be a permanent solution, if they grow back

Source: Radiopaedia

Under the knife 

Surgeons had to cut Megan’s head open from ear-to-ear to remove the tumour after her eye began to swell shut at an office Christmas party in 2017.

Megan, who works as a travel agent, said: ‘At the beginning of December my eye started to swell.

‘I love wearing fake eyelashes, and my dad suggested maybe I am allergic to the eyelash glue.

‘I never thought of this so decided after this day I was going to have a break from them and see what happens.

‘By Christmas the swelling was really bad and I was advised to go to the walk-in centre.

‘They checked my sight which was normal and could not see anything wrong.

‘I was referred to Queen Alexandra Hospital and had a series of scans.’

After nearly 11 hours in the hospital’s eye department, doctors spotted a benign boney tumour – called an Ossifying Fibroma – growing in a sinus above Megan’s left eye.

The growth was pushing against her eye socket, forcing it shut, and had the potential to damage her eyesight.

Megan added: ‘I was assured it wasn’t cancerous or anything life-threatening but because of the damage it was doing to my eye socket, it had to be removed.’

Concerns over cancer

The teenager underwent a six-hour operation to remove the tumour – which doctors still do not know the origins of.

Surgeons cut across the top of her head to get to the sinus, shaving Megan’s hair and stapling her skull back together after the surgery.

A scan of Megan Barker's head showing the tumour (circled) in her sinus

A scan of Megan Barker’s head showing the tumour (circled) in her sinus

Megan Barker  in January as the tumour in her sinus started to show as a bulge on her face

Megan Barker in January as the tumour in her sinus started to show as a bulge on her face

The teenager from Crookhorn, near Portsmouth, Hants, said: ‘The whole experience of what happened hasn’t really hit me yet.

‘First when I was told it was a mass I worried in case it was cancer, but it wasn’t.

‘Then I was told I had to undergo a serious operation and my hair would be shaved.

‘It sounds weird but for me, everything I loved about my life was being taken away from me.

‘I am not allowed to drive for six months, work for two months and I had a part of my hair shaved, although thankfully the surgeons took away the smallest amount they could.’

Megan has had her staples removed and is now in recovery at home. 

 



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