Mel B Loses Sight After Laser Eye Surgery
Singer Mel B was rushed to a London hospital Friday night (London time) after losing her sight following laser eye surgery, the Independent reports.
For a time, the singer, 43, feared she might have gone totally blind, as she had previously lost vision in her left eye after a bad laser eye surgery. Then again on Friday, she suddenly lost sight in her right eye.
A chauffeur drove her to London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital, even as she clutched a friend’s hand, fearing she would never be able to see again. And when she arrived at the hospital, she confirmed that she was “totally blind.”
“I can’t see anything — I am totally blind,” she reportedly told the staff there.
Further, an unidentified source told the Irish newspaper that Mel B (real name: Melanie Brown) was “in a lot of pain.”
“Mel was in a really bad way. The other girls and their managers were really worried. [She] was frantic and screaming that she couldn’t see a thing.”
The former Spice Girl wasn’t able to get the treatment she needed at Moorfields, so she was later transferred to Luton and Dunstable Hospital’s ophthalmology department. There, fortunately for Mel, her vision returned, says the source. It remains unclear if her vision returned on its own, or if it returned due to some medical intervention at the hospital.
Mel B 'rushed to hospital after going BLIND' ahead of Spice Girls tour rehearsal https://t.co/Yh8OhpR9Rn pic.twitter.com/agdoxK4UI1
— Mirror Celeb (@MirrorCeleb) May 19, 2019
Though she’s regained her sight in her functioning eye, Mel is far from out of the woods. She’ll require further treatment, which will necessitate further trips to the hospital.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Mel B since the Spice Girls are gearing up for a reunion tour, and were in the beginning stages of rehearsals when Mel was temporarily stricken blind. That means that her rehearsals, and the tour itself, will likely have to be broken up in parts as Mel gets the further treatment that she needs.
What’s more, her doctors told her in no uncertain terms that she needs to take some time off, and she reportedly “defied” those orders, says the source.
“Mel was determined to get back in action and was very brave. The situation did cause concern, and it is something the girls and those around them will monitor closely when the concerts start.”
According to WebMD, laser eye surgery is the most popular elective surgery in the U.S., with about 700,000 such procedures taking place every year. One of the possible side effects is temporary or permanent loss of vision, which WebMD describes as “extremely rare.”
