Brandi Glanville has opened up about her "deep depression" while battling facial disfigurement.
Earlier this month, the 52-year-old, best known for starring in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, shared a picture on X of her facial disfigurement. She believes that the condition is caused by a "parasitic" infection.
“What happened? I wish I knew I've been in &out of the hospital this passed year 1/2 spent almost every dollar I have trying to figure it out," the reality TV star wrote in a follow-up post.
"Some [doctors] say I have a parasite that jumps around my face. Some say it's stress induced edema. I personally say it's Bravo," she added.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star spoke about more about her health battles during her appearance on PageSix’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast.
She revealed that she restarted her antibiotics after noticing her face was beginning to “sink in".
“I prefer [my face] when it’s a little swollen, to be honest,” she told hosts Evan Real and Danny Murphy. “When it’s only swollen on one side, it’s not great. But the sinking-in thing is killing me slowly because I just feel like I look like a crackhead.”
Expressing her frustration, Glanville shared that she has been grappling with this issue for two years and is desperate for a solution.
“You could do anything you want to me, and I’d be OK with it,” she said. “I’ve had days of looking normal, not weeks. I wish. But it comes and goes. Over the weekend, it was only swollen on the right side of my face, so I looked like I had a really big meatball in the right side of my cheek."
Glanville told the podcast hosts that her facial disfigurement has taken a significant toll on her mental health and social life.
“It’s hard to hide out during Christmas when everyone’s having their parties. It’s depressing. It just hurts my brain and my heart,” she admitted. “The pain is more mental than anything, because I have been hiding and going through a deep, deep depression. Even if I could work now, at this point, I couldn’t. So it’s just been a really rough two years for me.”
She's even had to wear a "mask" around her two children, sons Mason Edward, 21, and Jake Austin, 17, so they don't have to see her "scary" face.
"They would try and calm me down and say I look normal and fine, but I knew better," she recalled. "I honestly scared them a couple times. They were like, 'What is happening?' [My face] went from being like really fat and swollen to now, like, sinking in."
The mom-of-two has enlisted the help of Los Angeles plastic surgeon Dr. Nicholas Nikolov to help treat the symptoms of her suspected parasitic infection.
According to Page Six, Dr. Nikolov has been using CellSound, a non-invasive treatment that employs non-focused ultrasound waves and patented electro-stimulation to rejuvenate cells without tissue damage.
“This is a device that is not treating parasites,” he clarified. “What we are treating here is the damage that has been caused from her having gone through all these infections for over a year. And once you have this kind of damage to the tissue, you see the cosmetic outcome she has — not enough blood getting [to her face]."
“It started as a wound-healing device, so it is used to heal damaged areas, whether it’s infection trauma or diabetic wounds - really, anything,” he continued. “So improving the blood flow, you’re healing the tissue. And by healing it, of course, it looks and feels better right away.
"We just want Brandi to feel like Brandi again. We’re hopeful and confident that we can make that happen.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Glanville told Entertainment Tonight that she hopes the new year will bring a positive turning point in her problems.
“Honestly, health is wealth and that’s all I want,” she added.
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