A woman named Audrey Kopp from Louisville, Kentucky had to undergo an arm surgery after acquiring a severe infection believed to have been caused by wearing a hair tie on her wrist.
Women are almost always seen with a hair tie wrapped around their wrists to have easy access to the accessory when the situation calls for it. Sometimes, they just tend to forget about it and fail to remove it when not in use.
Kopp has been busy for two weeks, moving houses. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the move, she noticed that a lump was growing on her wrist. She said it kept growing, becoming redder and looking worse.
She then went for a medical consultation, wherein a doctor prescribed her to take antibiotics.
Despite the antibacterial treatment, the bump on Kopp's arm continued to grow bigger. This prompted her to visit the emergency room and was then recommended to undergo urgent surgery.
She was thankful that the bump was caught in a timely manner and that she did not reach the stage of severe illness such as sepsis.
Medical team member Dr. Amit Gupta from Norton Healthcare explained that Kopp had a large abscess, which they had to cut up to drain the pus.
Gupta said the bump was most probably caused by the hair tie Kopp has been wearing. The accessory may have gotten under the skin through her pores and hair follicles, thus resulting in an infection.
At first, Kopp did not believe it, and even mistook the condition for a spider bite.
Through a Facebook post, Kopp showed a photo of her wound's condition three days following surgery. "I probably won't need another surgery," she wrote. She [the doctor] was shocked to find out I had 3 bacteria.... strep, staph and poly negative (which is severe and typical antibiotics cannot help)."
Kopp said she will not be wearing any hair ties soon.
"Be careful, you can't put all these hair-ties around the wrist particularly because it can cause problems with the skin, it can cause infection," advised Gupta. She further said that the situation can get worse, explaining that the moment the bacteria reaches the bloodstream, individuals may go into coma.
