Woman gets three types of infection from wearing hair ties on her wrist

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ALouisville, Ky. woman named Audree Kopp noticed something odd appear on her wrist a few weeks ago while she was in the process of moving into a new home, as reported by WLKY. A large, red bump had begun to form on the outside of her wrist, and Kopp first thought it might be some kind of spider bite. She went to her doctor and was prescribed antibiotics, but the bump continued to worsen.

[WARNING: This story contains graphic images.]

Fearing that something was seriously wrong, Kopp went to the emergency room where she was sent into surgery. Doctor Amit Gupta, who treated Kopp’s wrist, told WLKY, “She had a large abscess on the back of her wrist, so I basically made an incision and drained the puss all the way down.” Gupta found three types of infection in the abscess, and he said that it was due to bacteria from her hair ties getting underneath her skin through hair follicles and pores via a tiny cut. The below picture shows the infected spot after Dr. Gupta drained the puss out.

Kopp had been wearing glittery hair ties like the ones pictured on the right in the photo below, and these were the specific type that Gupta had warned her were problematic. These glitter hair ties are harder to keep clean than plastic hair ties, and their rougher texture (from the glitter) could potentially irritate small cuts in one’s skin. Kopp explains that doctors recommend plastic, no-slip hair ties (also pictured in the photo below on the left) for anyone who still wishes to wear them on their wrists.
Kopp made a final post about her experience as a warning to other women and girls who wear hair ties around their wrists but has since been made private on her FaceBook account. The text from the post warned those who wear hair ties to not only use the plastic, no-slip kind but to wash all the way up to your wrists when you wash your hands as well.
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