Social media influencer Gena Tew has revealed that she is still experiencing AIDS-related blindness, weeks after undergoing surgery to restore her sight.
The 27-year-old model, who has more than 620,000 followers on TikTok, has been documenting her health struggles in a series of social media posts since going public with her diagnosis in March.
In one TikTok video clip, which was shared on June 11 and has been viewed more than 12 million times, the social media star showed herself struggling to get up from her bed as her weight plummeted and muscle atrophy weakened her legs.
Taking her followers on her health journey, Tew documented her trip to have her operation, as she revealed that her illness had caused significant sight loss.
Sharing an update three weeks later, Tew said in a video posted over Labor Day Weekend: "Those of you who are asking me about an update of my eye, I went to the doctor the other day and he said that I need to wait a month for progress.
"So they put a gas bubble in my eye. So that's what making it completely blind—like completely. But I've got to wait a month to see some progress and it's really scary. Really scary. But I just wanted to update you guys."
@genatew2 Quick eye update! #fyp #update #genatew
♬ original sound - Gena Tew
Following her surgery, Tew said in August that she was "blind in my left eye, like completely. So I just had surgery to get the blood sucked out of it."
Tew added that she will be "taking this new prescription they're giving me for my eyes. It should get better and progress, because it's still healing. It's still really, really sore."
On one of her posts, Tew had used the hashtag "#CMV," in apparent reference to cytomegalovirus retinitis, which is known to be an ocular complication for people living with AIDS.
In recent months, Tew has shared a slew of videos on her health journey, including visits to doctors and posts from her home, where she revealed that she had lost sight in one eye and that her weight had dipped to a low of 65 pounds.
Tew recently revealed that her weight was up to 95 pounds.
Thanks to advanced treatments, Tew has shown videos of herself having gained weight as she recovers from the worst of her health battle.
According to Mayo Clinic, AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, "is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By damaging your immune system, HIV interferes with your body's ability to fight infection and disease.
"HIV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). It can also be spread by contact with infected blood and from illicit injection drug use or sharing needles. It can also be spread from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Without medication, it may take years before HIV weakens your immune system to the point that you have AIDS."
While there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, medications can control the infection and greatly slow its progression.
"Access to better antiviral treatments has dramatically decreased deaths from AIDS worldwide, even in resource-poor countries," Mayo Clinic states.
"Thanks to these life-saving treatments, most people with HIV in the U.S. today don't develop AIDS. Untreated, HIV typically turns into AIDS in about 8 to 10 years."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
