Brown Recluse spider and their bites

A couple days ago, I noticed I had a 'bump' on my kneecap. I assumed it was a pimple, or some sort of injury. This morning, upon waking up, I noticed my kneecap's coloration was dark pinkish-red. At this point, I was a bit shocked, and the diameter expanded. The 'top' of the bump was incredibly soft, and had a white milky puss-coloration to it. So I grabbed a needle and popped it. A ton of puss came out.

Anyways, after all of that was done, I went to college like it was nothing. About 5 hours later, I drove back to my town's local cafe. I noticed my bandage fell off of my knee, so I asked my friend John if I could have a bandage, assuming he had a medical first-aid kit. He replied "No, I don't have a First-Aid kit. Why? What the fuck did you do..?". I said "Uhh, pimple". He goes "Yeah, uh-huh, okay. Let me see.", and when I lifted my old bandage off of my knee, I noticed there was like a fucking huge HOLE in my kneecap. It was hidious. It seemed like a tiny worm dug a hole in my knee or something, completely disgusting. Anyways, John stepped back, and said "Wow. Dude. What the hell. That doesn't look normal. That's no damn pimple or acne problem. Sec, I think you have a Brown Recluse Spider bite".

Curious, I walked over to his laptop, and he Googled a bunch of images of their bites. Looked 100% exactly like the 'hole' in my knee. He told me that after a while, the 'poison' sorta decays and dissolves the exterior of your skin, then it penetrates and starts messing up the inside of your body. In my case, he said "You better get that checked. That might seriously mess up your leg if you don't take action".

So I drove to the hospital, and after a good 4 hours (waiting, registration, information, etc), I had a doctor examined it. Seems like it was just an ingrown-hair. Yet, there was a small hole in my knee? Awkward. Anyways, she gave me medication and information as to how to treat the wound. Lesson here is, be glad you have friends that knows their sh/t, and even if they're wrong, it's better to get it checked before it's too late.

Here's some pictures of Brown Recluse Spider bites (First one looks almost 100% identical to the wound on my kneecap):

 Warning: Graphic images, I warned you.

In some cases, when it gets THAT bad, they'll have to cut that specific infected body-part. :/ I'm also very grateful that it wasn't a Brown Recluse Spider bite.. I hated going to hospital too, I've never enjoyed the thought of needles piercing my skin.

The in-grown hair theory doesn't work for me either. I don't think a messed up hair follicle can wind up being big enough for your friend to tell u that's not a pimple/acne - especially since pimples are much bigger.


On the other hand, that's one nasty bite. =\

Surprisingly, the doctor was right, it wasn't anything huge. I thought it was a bite at first, because after I squeezed out the puss, it looked like there was a deep hole in my kneecap. To be precise, imagine the 'lead' in a pencil. It was that wide, and pretty a pretty deep wound. It didn't hurt, but it ached for quite a bit, so I thought it was a Brown Recluse bite too.. :/

Surprisingly, the doctor was right, it wasn't anything huge. I thought it was a bite at first, because after I squeezed out the puss, it looked like there was a deep hole in my kneecap. To be precise, imagine the 'lead' in a pencil. It was that wide, and pretty a pretty deep wound. It didn't hurt, but it ached for quite a bit, so I thought it was a Brown Recluse bite too.. :/

In-grown hair problems are apparently worse than it sounds. =\

In-grown hair problems are apparently worse than it sounds. =\

Yeah, and now I know. Before, I was always under the assumption that all it could inflict was a small 'bump' similar to an acne. Guess I was wrong. >>