Most women have worn a hair tie around their wrists at some point in their lives. But this woman, Audree Kopp, is warning that this may be a habit that women need to stop.
Like many of us, she was wearing a glittery hair tie around her wrist. The glue from the tie rubbed a scratch into her wrist, and that scratch was just the beginning of her problems. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES AHEAD.
She first noticed swelling on her wrist a few days later. When she first went to her doctor, they prescribed her antibiotics, and told her it was nothing to worry about.
But the antibiotics seemed to do nothing. The lump only got bigger. It was wider than a quarter. It became so painful that she went to the ER, where she was rushed to surgery.
What doctors found was shocking. She had been infected with three different types of bacteria. Doctors told Audree that if she’d come into the ER much later, she could have gotten sepsis, or blood poisoning.
“The surgeon said he didn’t know how it wasn’t in my bone and tendon,” Audree said.
Dr. Amit Gupta treated her. He warned that these hair ties can be dangerous if worn around the wrist.
“Be careful, you can’t put all these hair ties around wrists, they can cause problems with the skin, with infections,” said Gupta.
Kopp posted about her experience on Facebook, alongside the graphic images. She said, “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.
It’s certainly a cautionary tale to be aware of.
