Misdiagnosed COVID-19 Symptom Turns Into A Nightmare, Infection Eats Away 13-Year-Old Teen's Skull

After physicians misdiagnosed a massive swelling on her eye as a Covid symptom, a young girl "might have perished."

Bonnie Ghent, 13, of Hartcliffe, Bristol, was finally diagnosed with a life-threatening illness that had crept throughout her head and destroyed her skull.

Child Suffered From Rotten Skull After COVID-19 Diagnosis

Bonnie's parents, Joanne and Mike, have confessed that their precious daughter "might have died" if they had continued to heed physicians' advice that she was only suffering from conjunctivitis, a symptom of COVID-19.

Bonnie developed a massive swelling on her eye at the end of 2021. She tested positive for COVID-19 on Boxing Day.

The doctors were only available by phone due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, her condition got worse a few days later, and it reached her forehead, causing a large lump.

The mother went to the doctor with her child.

She told The Sun the doctors informed her that her daughter's condition was due to coughing while she was on COVID-19 and that it was fluid. The physician gave her Nurofen and advised them to return in two weeks.

Joanne said she was not happy waiting two weeks because the swelling kept getting worse and worse, and her daughter became more ill.

Doctors also recommended Bonnie to take Nurofen to reduce swelling after chatting with their local GP, according to Bristol Live.

She then went to a walk-in clinic in Hengrove, where she was prescribed Piriton, an anti-allergy drug. When she returned a few days later, she was given a bag of frozen peas.

Joanne and Mike claim that none of the physicians they met could figure out what was wrong, leaving them so concerned that they dialed 111 and drove her straight to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

Bonnie's mother said that a doctor rejected Bonnie's symptoms as a build-up of fluid caused by the coronavirus and advised her to take painkillers.

Joanne brought her kid to a walk-in clinic as the swelling worsened over the following several days, but the doctors there advised her to take Piriton, an allergy medication.

However, scans revealed that the illness had spread throughout her head and rotted away the bone in her skull.

According to Jo and Mike, Bonnie "would have been dead" if Jo and Mike hadn't walked into the hospital that day.

It was a quick procedure that left a massive scar from ear to ear on her skull, and it was a significant head surgery."

Bonnie will have a metal plate implanted in her forehead in a few weeks and will be on antibiotics "for months."

What Caused Bonnie's Condition?

Jo said their daughter had a sinus infection after having a cold or flu and it led to severe complications. If a sinus infection hasn't gotten better or treated properly, it could move from sinus pockets to nearby bone and the brain. That was what happened to Bonnie's case.

Severe sinus infections include redness or swelling of the eye and forehead, pain in the eye, sensitivity to light and changes in vision. Bonnie's skull was rotting because the sinus infection had already reached the bone and spread around her head.

Check out more news and information on COVID-19 in Science Times.