LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Kentucky woman says a hair tie she wore around her wrist caused a potentially deadly infection.
According to WLKY, Audree Kopp first noticed a growing bump on her wrist. At first she didn’t think anything of it, but the bump continued to grow.
“It just kept getting bigger, and redder, and worse,” Kopp told WLKY.
Kopp's doctor gave her antibiotics to treat the growth, but nothing seemed to help. She eventually went to the emergency room where doctors told her she needed surgery.
Dr. Amit Gupta of Norton Healthcare said the bacteria from Kopp’s hair tie likely got under her skin through her pores and hair follicles, causing the nasty infection.
“It could have been a whole different ball game,” said Kopp. “Once it gets into your bloodstream, people have been known to go into a coma, your body shuts down. It could have been worse.”
Kopp wrote about the experience on Facebook, showing the bump as it continued to grow. She wrote:
"3 bacterias …. strep, staph, AND poly negative. I want to inform everyone to make sure no one else has to go thru this," Kopp wrote in one post. "The GLITTER tie is the one that caused the issue."
Doctors suggest washing the bands if possible and to avoid leaving them on your wrist for extended periods of time.
