Hair Tie Responsible For Life-Threatening Wrist Infection

Audrey Kopp of Louisville, Kentucky needed arm surgery after acquiring a severe infection from wearing a hair tie on her wrist. Her story may serve as a bit of a warning to many who regularly wear hair-ties in the same way, health officials say.

Kopp had been busy over the past two weeks moving houses when she noticed a lump growing on her wrist, according to WLKY.

"It just kept getting bigger, and redder, and worse," Kopp told the news organization. However, even antibiotics didn't take away the spider bite-like mass. 

Kopp soon needed emergency surgery to drain the swelling abscess. Her glittery hair tie had collected harmful pathogens on the fabric--later transferring them into her blood stream and aggravating surrounding hair follicles.

"You can't put all these hair ties around the wrist, because it can cause problems with the skin," Kopp's orthopedic surgeon, Amit Gupta, told WLKY. "It can cause infection." 

Of course, this doesn't mean you can never wear a hair tie around your wrist again. But doctors note that it's important to make sure the band is not too tight, according to CBS News. They also noted that it's important to never leave them on the skin for too long and always wash them, as well.

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