Amongst the many struggles that we, women, face every day, losing hair ties has to be the most annoying one. No matter how many we buy, somehow we always end up with just one to get us through face washes, bad hair day fix-ups and our meals. We cringe at the idea of letting people borrow even one.
But there is something far more important that we have to discuss today: a nasty wrist infection.
Do you have the habit of wearing your hair ties on your wrist? Well, I do! And when I heard about this piece of information, I couldn’t believe the possibility of the same.
Audree Kopp, the resident of Kentucky, USA, learnt about this wrist infection in an agonising way after she noticed a tender bump growing on her right wrist, which doubled as her off-duty hair tie holder.
Kopp told WLKY in Louisville, KY —”It just kept getting bigger, and redder, and worse.” Even antibiotics didn’t seem to have any impact on the massive spider-bite kind of a bump.
According to CBS Local, Kopp decided to undergo a surgery to remove the abscess, after the bump wouldn’t stop getting larger. Her doctor told CBS that a bacteria from Kopp’s hair tie got under her skin via the pores and hair follicles, causing an infection which if ignored, could have turned into sepsis — a potentially life-threatening complication that can cause organ failure and even death.
This kind of an infection is very rare but doctors say that it is possible. Celeb dermatologist Ava Shamban told Shape,
“Conceivably, the hair tie could have traumatised the skin, allowing the entrance of bacteria such as MRSA or E. coli, which can be found everywhere from shopping carts to gyms to escalators. But I have never seen anyone get an infection from a hair tie and we all know that women walk around constantly wearing them around the wrist!”
Kopp has made up her mind to never wear hair ties around her wrist after her doctor advised her to do so.
Hair ties should be worn loosely around the wrist and cleaned regularly. Anything tight can restrict the flow of blood to hands and fingers, potentially causing a skin breakdown or other vascular problems. Constantly wash your hands and skin under the hair band, so you don’t harbour bacteria on your skin. And try to restrict your usage of glittery elastic bands, they are a very bad idea, according to doctors. Clean all items you wear on your skin, regularly.
So ladies, think before you wrap that thing around your wrist.
