Hair ties may be hazardous to your health!
This according to a Kentucky woman who was forced to have surgery after the glittery band she wore around her wrist caused a potentially life-threatening infection.
Audree Kopp said she went to her doctor to find out what was causing the massive red bump on her wrist.
She was initially given antibiotics, but when the lump grew and became more painful, she went to the emergency room.
At Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Dr. Amit Gupta told her she would need to undergo emergency surgery.
He drained the fluid that had built up from bacteria caused by the hair ties that likely penetrated her skin through her pores and hair follicles, causing three different types of infection.
“I thought it was a spider bite or something else– not from wearing hair ties,” a stunned Kopp, 28, told WLKY.
“Thank God I caught it in time or I could have had sepsis,” she said. “Once it gets into your bloodstream, people have been known to go into a coma.”
Kopp said she hopes her story reaches other women who may have similar inflammations before they get as bad as hers does — or worse.
“The doctor advised if you DO want to wear hair ties on your wrist … make sure they’re the plastic no slip ones I posted. and make sure when washing your hands … u go up your wrist and wash the tie,” she wrote on Facebook.
Kopp added: Please share this. I’m pretty sure about 90% of us females don’t think twice about keeping hair ties on our wrists.”