After woman's brush with death, doctor warns about the danger of glittery hair ties

It's official: Nothing in this world — not even a glittery hair tie — is safe.

Audree Kopp of Louisville, Kentucky, never thought twice about leaving a hair band around her wrist. About two weeks ago, Kopp noticed she had a bump on the back of her wrist, and when it didn't go away, she went to the doctor, who prescribed antibiotics. That didn't help, and finally, as the bump grew and became redder, Kopp went to the hospital. There, she found out she needed to have emergency surgery. "Thank God I caught it in time, or I could have had sepsis," she told WLKY.

Dr. Amit Gupta says Kopp's abscess was most likely caused by bacteria from the hair tie that got under her skin through pores and hair follicles. "Be careful, you can't put all these hair ties around the wrist, particularly because it can cause problems with the skin, it can cause infection," Gupta said. Kopp, who at first believed she had been bitten by a spider, ended up with three different types of infections, and she's vowed to never again wear a hair tie around her wrist. "It could have been a whole different ballgame," Kopp told WLKY. "Once it gets into your bloodstream, people have been known to go into a coma, your body shuts down. It could have been way worse."

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