Women around the world do this: they are often seen sporting a hair tie around their wrist. It’s a convenient way of taking one with you without losing it, especially if you have long hair.
But recently, one mum from Kentucky, USA experienced something really nasty and totally unexpected, all due to a glittery hair tie that she put around her wrist.
According to Science World Report, Audree Kopp first noticed something was wrong when she was moving house. It was then that she saw a reddish lump on her wrist, that looked like a spider or another insect had bitten her.
“It just kept getting bigger, and redder, and worse,” Kopp told news organization WLKY 32. She went to her doctor to get the lump checked and was prescribed antibiotics, but even they failed to get rid of the infection.
The lump eventually became so painful that Kopp was taken to hospital, where she was immediately rushed into surgery.
Doctors reportedly discovered that her arms had become infected with not one, but three kinds of bacteria. She had, in fact, been extremely lucky to not contract sepsis, which can be life-threatening.
In order to clear the lump, doctors reportedly had to drain pus from the lump during surgery, which left Kopp with a gaping wound on her arm.
Hair tie infection: A hair tie such as the glittery one on the right in the image, caused Kopp’s triple infection. (Image: YouTube screengrab)
The culprit?
Unbelievably, this deadly triple infection was caused by a glittery hair tie that Kopp had been wearing around her wrist.
She says on Facebook:
“The glitter tie is the one that caused this issue.
“It rubbed a tiny scratch on my wrist, and the bacteria from the tie jumped in, causing a life-threatening bacterial infection.
‘I was admitted to the ER, transported by ambulance to another hospital for emergency surgery. My white cell count was through the roof, and I was lucky to have not had sepsis.”
Dr Amit Gupta who was part of the medical team that treated Kopp cautions others to be careful about wearing hair ties aroudn their wrist in the manner Kopp did.
“Be careful, you can’t put all these hair ties around wrists, they can cause problems with the skin, with infections, ” he told WLKY News.
Now mums, no need to panic. This doesn’t mean you can’t ever slip a hair tie around your wrist again.
But, according to CBS News, doctors advise that you should make sure that the band is not too tight, to never leave it on your wrist for too long, and to wash them regularly.
Watch Kopp talk about her ordeal. WARNING: graphic content.
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