Salon Trip Nearly Kills Woman, She Says

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. -- Staphylococcus is an infection that can be deadly, and it strikes healthy people, including one woman who went for a beauty treatment.

"It all started when I got my eyebrows waxed. I got my hair cut and everything because I wanted to look good," Amber Witherow told television station WGAL.

What happened next took Witherow completely by surprise. Days after her trip to the salon, an infection developed near her right eye.

"It was to the point where my eye was purple, swollen shut and there was a hole in my head," she said. "It started to really hurt. (I) got headaches, migraines. I was throwing up, so I went to the doctor, my family doctor."

The infection was so severe Witherow was admitted to Lancaster General Hospital so that infectious disease doctors could get it under control. She was suffering from a particular staph infection known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

"Staphaureus is the name of the germ that causes the infections. The methicillin resistant part is something that's the new feature of these community-acquired outbreaks," Dr. Joseph Kontra said.

Staph infections are nothing new. Although some can be serious, they're treated with antibiotics. But the new MRSA strain has doctors puzzled because it's resistant to those antibiotics, making it more difficult to treat. And to make matters worse, more cases are popping up.

"Really, last June and going forward from there, we've seen quite a few cases -- a tripling of our caseload of those infections," said Kontra.

Staph can be deadly. In Witherow's case, doctors said she was lucky.

"If we would have waited one more day, she's like, 'You could have passed away.' And I was like, 'Whew, glad we didn't wait one more day,'" Witherow said.

In most cases, the infection starts as skin sores. They're described as looking like spider bites because they're red, painful and have somewhat of a black center.

"The main mode of transmission of this germ is skin-to-skin contact," said Kontra.

Kontra recommends washing hands using gel sanitizers. As far as the eyebrow waxing, the doctor wasn't sure if it was related.

"In this case, I think it was unlikely to have been the eyebrow waxing specifically. It could have been anything else, any other skin trauma in someone who happened to have the germ on the skin surface," said Kontra.

That being said, Witherow said she's not taking any chances.

"I'm done with that ... I'm going to do it myself," she said.

MRSA is found in 1 to 3 percent of the population. If you notice unusual sores, you should consult your doctor. It will take nine to 12 months until Witherow's eye is completely healed.