To identify a brown recluse, look for six eyes arranged in pairs, although getting close enough to see the eye pattern on a spider sounds, frankly, terrifying.īrown recluse spider bites do happen though and when they do, they are often described by "sharp, burning pain," Arnold explains. Check out this map to see if you're in the danger zone.Īnd despite what you may have heard, even where brown recluses are present, they rarely bite, he adds. The brown recluse spider is one of the most venomous in America, but they are limited to very specific geographic regions - if you don't live in one of these places, it's highly unlikely you need to worry about this type of bite, Vetter says. Male and immature black widows have tan and white stripes, Vetter says.īecause these types of bites are so serious, if you strongly suspect you were bitten by a black widow or you develop muscle cramping, abdominal and chest pain, high blood pressure, a racing heart and/or vomiting within two hours of a bite, go to the ER immediately, Arnold says. Only female black widows have the characteristic, red hourglass-shaped marking on their backs.
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However, they do tend to become more swollen and red than your general household spider bite, Vetter says.īlack widow spiders are tough to identify as well. Think you can ID a black widow bite on sight? Not so fast: The actual bite looks a lot like any other spider bite. anti-venom) exists now, before it was discovered, about 5% of bitten people died.
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Their bite is extremely painful and, while an antivenin (a.k.a. Of all of the spiders, black widows pose the greatest health threat to Americans, according to Rick Vetter, Ph.D., a spider expert in the department of entomology at the University of California, Riverside. Treat these at home by washing the site with soap and water, using cold compresses and taking an ibuprofen to reduce pain and swelling, he adds. While it can be scary to be bitten by any spider, these bites normally aren't any more painful than a bee sting and shouldn't cause problems beyond some redness, swelling and itching, Arnold says. The two most common spider bites are from house spiders, specifically the jumping spider and the wolf spider. But if the swelling doesn't go down, gets significantly worse or is accompanied by other symptoms, it's time to call your doctor, says Arnold. Even though the swelling can get quite pronounced, it's not necessarily a problem as long as it goes down within a few days. Swelling is another very common symptom of insect or spider bites. Small blisters on their own, with no other symptoms, don't necessarily need special care, but if a blister opens, it becomes at risk for infection, says Arnold.
#Warm eye compress target skin#
When a spider bite turns into cellulitis - a common (although painful) skin infection - a rash begins to spread around the wound and the skin becomes painful and hot to the touch.Īnother common reaction to many spider bites is to get "weeping" blisters at the site (they look puffy and fluid-filled). There are three main complications that can arise from bites: cellulitis, blisters and swelling, says Arnold. While poisonous bites are rare, any bite - spider or otherwise - can turn serious if it becomes infected, says Arnold. "In a majority of the cases that we see, a spider was never seen by patient and is not responsible for their infection."Ģ) So what happens when a spider bite becomes infected? "Many people don’t recall an injury or specific bite and hold a common belief that a spider must have bitten them without them knowing," he says.