Stomach-churning footage shows a father bursting his ‘false widow’ spider bite with a paperclip.
James Lowe, 43, felt an itch as soon as a spider bit his right leg while he lay in bed last Saturday night. He woke to find the flattened arachnid on his sheets but thought nothing of it.
Just 14 hours later, the father-of-one’s wound had turned red and hot.
The delivery driver, of Gloucester, went to hospital, where medics gave him antibiotics and warned him not to squeeze the then-black bite.
Concerned the blister would burst on his bedding, Mr Lowe defied doctors’ orders and decided to drain the wound himself.
Capturing the gruesome ‘procedure’ on camera, a ‘mixture of pus and blood and a green, creamy substance’ can be seen bursting from the ‘boil’.
Mr Lowe, who can be heard retching over the ‘gone-off meat smell’, is still on antibiotics.
James Lowe defied doctors’ orders and burst his infected ‘false widow’ spider bite with a paperclip. The father-of-one was told to leave it alone but became concerned it would rupture on his bedding in the night. A ‘mixture of pus and blood and a creamy substance’ oozed out
Mr Lowe first rubbed a paper clip with an alcohol wipe. He then prodded at the ‘leathery’ blister, which caused him to retch in disgust. On the second prod, the boil burst
Mr Lowe woke to find what he thinks was a flattened false widow spider (pictured, stock) in his bed. He felt an itch as soon as he was bitten last Saturday night but thought nothing of it
Mr Lowe took himself to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on Sunday, believing he had been bitten by a false widow spider.
‘The doctor said because it was infected I needed to keep it clean and not pop it,’ he said.
‘[But] It felt really grim having that on my leg.
‘It was causing quite a lot of pain when I was walking and you could see the liquid inside the blisters moving around.
‘I could tell people were staring at them, it made me feel quite uncomfortable.’
Armed with a paperclip, hand sanitiser and alcohol wipes, Mr Lowe took matters into his own hands.
‘When I got into bed that night I knew it would burst in the night as all the dots had joined together in one big blister,’ he said.
‘The sac was getting quite full and the skin was stretching and I didn’t want it to leak all over my bed.
‘So in the early hours I decided to deal with it.’
Mr Lowe first rubbed the paper clip with an alcohol wipe. He then prodded the ‘leathery’ blister, which made his stomach turn.
‘The first time I pressed the paperclip into it it pierced the skin but the second time, when I pressed a little bit harder, it all came oozing out,’ he said.
‘I then squeezed it and was surprised at how much came out – it was a mixture of pus and blood and a green, creamy substance.
‘It had a weird smell like gone-off meat and as I was trying to squeeze it was making me retch. I thought I was going to be sick.’
Mr Lowe is on antibiotics and his wound is bandaged (left) because the blister is still leaking. After the ‘procedure’, Mr Lowe’s red, hot wound was the size of a pound-coin (seen right)
Mr Lowe claims even his cat Queenie (pictured together) looked away in apparent disgust when the pus, which smelt like ‘gone-off meat’, started rushing out of his blister
After posting about his ordeal on Facebook, Mr Lowe’s friends on the social-media site urged him to film the ‘operation’.
In the video, which has been viewed more than 19,000 times on YouTube, Mr Lowe can be heard retching and swearing in disgust.
Even his cat Queenie, which can be seen in the background of the video, turns her head away in apparent horror.
‘I didn’t realise Queenie was in shot at the time because I was trying to zoom in on my leg,’ he said.
‘Looking back it’s quite funny because as soon as I popped it she ducked down and hid away as if to say “yuck”.
‘She looked revolted when it came out – I don’t know if she heard it or smelled it but as soon as I popped it she looked away.’
In the video, Mr Lowe can be heard retching and swearing in horror as the pus oozes out
Mr Lowe can also be seen ‘mopping up’ the pus with kitchen paper as it emerges
Even after the ‘drainage’, Mr Lowe’s blister is still causing him trouble.
‘I’m on antibiotics four times a day and have my leg bandaged as it’s still oozing now,’ he said.
‘Hopefully my leg will dry up pretty soon and heal over.’
He is speaking out to encourage people to be aware of spider bites.
‘I’d urge anyone to be careful of spiders and bugs, and check when you go to bed or put your shoes on,’ Mr Lowe said.
‘If you are unlucky enough to get bitten, don’t leave it too long before seeing a doctor.
WHAT IS A FALSE WIDOW SPIDER? AND WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU GET BITTEN?
False widow spiders are distinctive for their shiny, black flesh, bulbous bodies, thick legs and skull-like patterns.
Millions of false widows, Britain’s most venomous spider, have been found across the UK and the population is believed to be growing.
The species has a brown bulbous abdomen with cream markings that look like a skull. They have long legs and can reach about 15mm in size.
Also known as steatoda nobilis, the spider is frequently confused for the black widow, which has deadly venom.
The false widow was first spotted in the UK in Torquay in 1879, and it is thought that it may have made its way to these shores from Madeira or the Canary Islands in a shipment of bananas.
The Natural History Museum says that warmer summers mean the spider is spreading northwards through the UK, having previously been found mainly in southern England.
IF YOU GET BITTEN…
The first thing you should do is wash the area thoroughly with soap and water to prevent infection – and don’t scratch, as if you break the skin there’s more chance for bacteria to get in.
Cover bites with a plaster and apply an antihistamine sting cream to calm any inflammation or itching. Any redness, pain or swelling should subside after three days.
Be alert to potential signs of infection, such as weeping blisters or painful swelling, that continue to get worse after a few days. If this happens, seek advice from your GP.