AN ISLE of Wight actress has revealed how rare flesh-eating bacteria, which twice attacked her face, left her on the brink of suicide.

Lois Temel, 44, who has just finished filming 'Desert River' on the Island, contracted B Haemolytic Streptococcus (Strep) which results in the death of the body's soft tissue.

Lois, from Ryde, revealed: "Strep is a type of an internal Necrotising Fasciitis which is quite rare.

"The surgeon thinks I got it after I was weakened following a car accident and picked up an infection similar to strep throat or Scarlet Fever but a far more dangerous version.

"At first I didn't have any pain in my face, I just felt really run down and weary all the time.

"It took doctors a year to diagnose it after deciding to put a camera up my nose and that was when I was told my face was 'empty'."

Lois underwent pioneering surgery and treatment at The Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital, with the surgery being performed through her nostrils and throat, so her only scars are internal.

She added: "They thought they had got it all but there is always risk that it could come back and it did return through bad luck.

"I just sneezed and blood started flowing out of my nose and I looked down at my hand and there was a lump of bone, which turned out to be my septum.

"At one point I felt I did not want to go on with this life but acting has given me a feeling of freedom."

Lois continues to have regular procedures to inject collagen under her eyes and across the nose to fill in the holes in her bones and she is back in hospital again this week.

She said: "My last surgery was nine months ago so things are definitely getting better.

"I've worked harder and done more this year than in about the past ten since this whole surgical process started.

"I've just finished 'Desert River' playing Linda Davids, the wife of a Royal Navy Officer who develops Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse issues after being kidnapped while serving in the Gulf.

"A lot of the film was shot here with Island actors and filming took place at Colwell Bay, Ryde, Puckpool Battery, Seaview and Newtown Creek.

"And I also performed a once act play on the Isle of Wight and internationally in a true story entitled 'Beerey', playing Sue Beere, the wife of Jon Beere, who was sentenced to 24 years in jail for conspiracy to import 255 kilos of cocaine."