A teen who found she kept rubbing her eye was horrified when she learned it was a killer infection triggered by a cold – and needed brain surgery.

Sophie Bell had been suffering from a cold and daily headaches for around a month in October, which left her bedbound in debilitating pain.

The 17-year-old, who worked as a pharmacy assistant, believed she was simply under the weather, until she woke up on October 29 with a swollen, bulging left eye.

Sophie’s mum, Carol Wright, believed her daughter had been rubbing her eye so much due to the persistent headaches that it had caused an infection.

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After taking antibiotics, Sophie’s eye worsened(Image: Kennedy News and Media)

But after taking antibiotics, Sophie’s eye worsened, leaving her in excruciating pain and unable to see.

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Concerned the infection was not improving, Sophie was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with orbital cellulitis – a serious infection of the fat and muscles around the eye.

After undergoing numerous tests Sophie was told the infection, caused by a cold that had developed into a sinus infection, had started spreading into her brain and she would need urgent neurosurgery.

Shocked, doctors told the sixth form student that the condition was life-threatening and were concerned it may develop into meningitis. After a nine-hour surgery, in which a part of Sophie’s skull was cut out to remove the infection, the student made a ‘miraculous recovery’.

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The teen underwent brain surgery for orbital cellulitis(Image: Kennedy News and Media)

Now, Sophie wants to raise awareness of the potential dangers of sinus infections after nearly losing her life to what started as a common cold.

Sophie, who lives in Enfield, London, said: “I felt really unwell while I was at work. I had a headache and just didn’t feel 100%. This headache I had was from a common cold, I had a headache basically every day.

“There was a week where I couldn’t get out of bed, I was in so much pain. I woke up on the morning of 29th October and my eye had come out like a golf ball. My eye was huge. My mum thought where I had been rubbing my eye because of my headache it had caused an infection. I was proper rubbing my eye, it was bulging.”

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Sophie pictured before the infection(Image: Kennedy News and Media)

After visiting a walk-in centre, Sophie was put on strong antibiotics but grew more concerned when her eye began oozing pus and her vision turned blurry.

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When her symptoms failed to improve, Sophie went to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London before being referred to The Royal London Hospital for urgent tests.

Sophie said: “I spent the whole weekend in a dark room because my eye was so painful. It was so full of pus, the infection had started to seep out of it. I couldn’t see out of it, it was blurry.

“The next day, my brother messaged his work friend whose wife is an ophthalmologist and she said I need to go to hospital because she thinks I have orbital cellulitis, which can be fatal. [The doctors] said it was life-threatening. Within 12 hours, they said they had to shave my hairline and I had to have major neurosurgery.

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“It was really daunting, everyone had concerns. I was really scared, I broke down. They told me this could be fatal, I could be paralysed. They were really concerned.

“It was scary, [they said] it could’ve turned into meningitis. They said they hadn’t seen anything like this in a while and I was a top priority in the hospital.”

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The pharmacy assistant is now encouraging others not to ‘leave things’(Image: Kennedy News and Media)

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Mum-of-three Carol added: “My world fell apart. I felt guilt for not taking her to the doctors before because she kept getting better.” Sophie was told her common cold had turned into a sinus infection that had then developed into orbital cellulitis, which had started spreading into her brain.

After a nine-hour surgery, which involved removing a part of Sophie’s skull, she was taken to intensive care and remains in hospital recovering from the operation.

Sophie said: “I never thought a common cold could turn into this. I thought I would be alright with paracetamol.”