A young woman was left in agony after a nasty spider bite to her thigh required surgery in hospital.
Alex Matuszek, from Sunderland, only noticed the mark while taking a bath on March 18, when the injury was just red and itchy.
She went to A&E at Sunderland Royal Hospital three days later to have the mark checked out, still unaware it was a spider bite, and was sent home with paracetamol.
The 19-year-old was in and out of A&E several times due to severe pain when the bite nearly doubled in size within 24 hours on March 24.
Alex Matuszek, from Sunderland, needed surgery after a spider bite nearly doubled in size
Eventually the nasty wound turned into an abscess and burst twice due to infection
It was only when she could not take the pain any longer that she decided to go to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, where she was immediately put on a drip
It was only when she could not take the pain any longer that she decided to go to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, where she was immediately put on a drip.
‘I was terrified I was thinking I was going lose a leg,’ said Miss Matuszek, who is currently still in hospital.
‘I literally couldn’t sleep what so over. It was like loads of stabbing pains and my whole leg was in pins and needles. Sunderland Hospital didn’t really take it seriously.
‘It was only Sunday [25 MARCH] when I arrived at the RVI they put me straight on a drip. Sunderland kept sending me home with pain relief and sent the recovery care test to ”check on me”.
‘I didn’t stop crying for a week with pain.’
Ms Matuszek only noticed the mark while taking a bath on March 18, when the injury was just red and itchy
She said: ‘I literally couldn’t sleep what so over. It was like loads of stabbing pains and my whole leg was in pins and needles. Sunderland Hospital didn’t really take it seriously’
Miss Matuszek’s injury was only confirmed as a spider bite at Royal Victoria Infirmary, when it had already gotten much worse because of the lack of treatment
Miss Matuszek’s injury was only confirmed as a spider bite at Royal Victoria Infirmary, when it had already gotten much worse because of the lack of treatment.
The wound had turned into an abscess and actually burst twice due to infection while she has been in hospital.
Surgery to drain the abscess was successfully completed at around 6pm on Monday and Miss Matuszek is now on the road to recovery.
Miss Matuszek said: ‘I won’t be mobile for 2/3 weeks.
‘I turn 20 next week but won’t be having any plans for that now. I was recently made redundant and couldn’t attend any of my interviews this week because of this.’
Surgery to drain the abscess was successfully completed at around 6pm on Monday and Miss Matuszek is now on the road to recovery
Miss Matuszek added: ‘I won’t be mobile for 2/3 weeks. I turn 20 next week but won’t be having any plans for that now’
The teen added: ‘I didn’t feel or see a spider when it might have happened. I had been in the house the full weekend, I normally don’t mind spiders in our house. I just put them outside.
‘It’s my boyfriend who’s terrified but from now on [I] definitely don’t want to be anywhere near one.’
Clive Boase, boss of Suffolk Pest Management Consultancy and spider bite expert, had difficulty pinpointing the exact kind of spider that was responsible for Miss Matuszek’s nasty wound.
He told MailOnline: ‘By the time the lesion gets to the stage in this photo, it’s very difficult to know what caused it.’
The expert did note that serious spider bites in Britain are very rare.