Wearing hair ties on wrist is deadly
Wearing your hair tie on your wrist until you need it later seems like a time-saving measure, but as it turns out it could be a deadly move.
A Kentucky woman who wore a hair tie around her wrist has been treated with a life-threatening infection. Seems ridiculous, but it’s true.
When Audree Kopp noticed a bump growing on her wrist, she thought it was an insect bite. But it just kept growing.
"It just kept getting bigger, and redder, and worse," Kopp tells CBS 3.
Kopp went to the doctor, who put her on antibiotics. But the bump just kept on growing. Kopp eventually had to undergo surgery to remove the abscess on the back of her wrist.
Her doctor, Dr. Amit Gupta of Kentucky's Norton Healthcare, believes the infection was caused by bacteria from Kopp's hair tie getting under her skin through pores and hair follicles.
"Be careful. You can't tie all those hair ties around the wrist," says Dr. Gupta. "It can cause problems with the skin. It can cause infection."
Although Kopp’s infection was undoubtedly bad, if left longer it could have led to sepsis.
"It could have been a whole different ball game," Dr. Gupta says. "Once it gets into your bloodstream, people have been known to go into a coma, your body shuts down. It could have been worse.”
Doctors are recommending hair ties either be worn loosely around wrists or cleaned often.
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