Since my eyelid was still puffy this morning and it had given me a broken night’s sleep, we decided it was time to seek help. I called 111 and got referred to the local pharmacy, where I was able to have a quick consultation with a pharmacist and get prescribed a five day course of antibiotics there and then. Not everything about the NHS operates with splendid efficiency but I think this was an example of things done well. Hopefully it won’t be too long now before the medicine takes effect although I’m very aware of the need to finish the full course.

Since I had compared my eyelid to the effect of Botox fillers, I wondered what would happen if you took antibiotics while on Botox. Would they counteract the effects? Most sources seem to suggest that it isn’t a good combination but not for the reasons I thought; apparently there is a possibility of the effect being magnified rather than reduced. Reading a bit more, it looks like I’d misunderstood Botox as being a deliberate injection of infection. Instead, it is a “purified toxin” based on what is produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. If you get infected with that, it releases a toxin that can easily kill you. Apparently “wound botulism” can be treated with antibiotics but other methods are needed for a food-acquired infection as antibiotics will stimulate the release of more toxin!