I am pretty sure I have a brown recluse bite. It's been 3 weeks, the black dead skin I actually pulled off 3 times. The last time I took a very clean sharp little pair of scissors and clipped the piece of tissue that was hanging on. It was black with a red ring around it. Looked like a skin cancer. When I first was bit, it felt like something was across my nose, like I kept thinking a hair was there, then I had numbing like Novocain was wearing off on the side of my face and upper lip. My teeth felt like they were all falling out on that side next to my nose bad headache. Did not know it was a bite until started checking. Was leaving for vacation, kept it clean with Neosporin, and now trying mederma to fill in the skin loss. It is still not healed all that well after 3 weeks. It sucks because it is on my nose. But luckily it has not gotten bigger than the size of a pencil head. I think now that it has quite turning black it will hopefully start to heal. It seems to be starting. I know it is going to leave a scar. I don't think I can afford skin grafts.

I was submitted to the hospital for a week for IV antibiotics.

My mother was bitten and tried to treat it with antibiotics for 10 days. She ended up with a gaping hole in her leg that was continuing to grow. A friend had suggested a low voltage tazer gun as she had seen first-hand that it worked. We found a doctor that sold them for brown recluse bites and used it. The bite cleared up within two days and she hasn't had problems with it since.

I applied ice packs for 2 days. This relieved the horrible itching/burning. I took Tylenol the first day only, with no antihistamine or other medication. My Tetanus was up to date.

I was bitten by a brown recluse twice in one night. Four days passed and the centers turned purple. The centers were about half the size of a pencil eraser, and caused no pain whatsoever. Two more days passed and the purple began to fade.

I was out fishing at night in a small boat when I saw a spider. I swiped it off me and into the water. About an hour later, it developed a lot of pus. The next day, I awake to find and infection on my hand all the way to my shoulder. My skin started eating away like an ulcer. I went to the ER and was rushed to surgery. The surgeons cut a three-inch-wide wound all the way down to the bone. The pain was unbearable. I was on heavy antibiotics and morphine every two hours.

My recluse bite started with a blood like blister and within hour it went from the size of a pen point to the size of half dollar! My hand was so painfully swollen, I could not use it. I went to hospital and they kept me the weekend and gave me antibiotics to help with swelling. Monday morning they escorted me to a wound specialist and immediately cleaned the wound and then put me in hyperbaric treatments. Ii had five days of two hour treatments plus the antibiotics. My treatments were able to restore vital tissue and blood cells to the impacted area.

I am a 47 year old female, and today I arrived home from my 8 day stay at the hospital due to a brown recluse bite. I did not know what bit me. I originally thought it was a mosquito but then it began swelling. By the second day the area became inflamed and doubled in size. I went to ER and was sent home with oral antibiotics and told it would get better. The next day it looked like a raised tumor with streaks of redness running down my left buttocks. I phoned the doctor that treated me at the ER and they said to give the antibiotic a chance to work, and to ice it down. I began to feel fatigued and felt like I was dragging my left leg around. I continued to go to work and by Sunday, Nov.6th my wound opened in the center and turned black. Monday the 7th I went to a different hospital and was admitted and immediately started on serious IV antibiotics. I had surgery on Tuesday the 8th and the surgeon removed a significant amount of necrotic tissue and drained the wound. I now have a pretty large size open wound that will require daily wound cleaning and dressing. I will be out of work for at least three weeks or so until the wound closes up since it heals from the inside out. This was a horrible experience and I want others to know if they get a bite that does not start to heal, don't wait!!! Go to the hospital and insist on being seen by someone who is familiar with spider bites. I give many thanks to my surgeon and the infectious disease doctor who took great care of me and certainly educated me on these nasty spiders.