Brown Recluse Spider Bite

Brown Recluse Spider Bite






Brown recluse spider is one of the poisonous spiders found largely in the United States. Having tiny structure measuring just 1-1.5 inches this spider has long legs and the entire body is brown in color. It has a dark pigment on its head and often lives on wood, leaves and rocks. They like to spend most of the time outdoors but when they get inside your house it will hide in the best places like dark closets, basements or attics. Generally these spiders do not harm us but when they are disturbed it would bite us.

Brown recluse spiders can be easily recognized by the presence of violin shaped pattern on cephalothoracic region. The neck portion of the violin pattern will be on the rear side of the insect. Most of these spiders will have 6-8 eyes. Often it is not possible to detect these spiders by naked eye since they are too small.

Venom :

Brown recluse spider carries venom on its sting. They are highly poisonous and contain more potent poison than a snake. But the effects of spider bite are less because it injects only meager amount of poison when they bite. This venom causes toxicity on the cells and tissues of the affected person.

The venom of the spider contains many enzymes and they will destroy the local cell membrane of the person once it bites him. This venom is capable of breaking up of tissues of skin and fat and even blood vessels. Finally the venom causes tissue death in the bitten area. Once the spider bites a person, the immune system will automatically release antihistamines and cytokines for fighting the tissue death. In severe cases this process of producing inflammatory agents by the immune system will cause injury to the cells producing side effects more than that of spider bite.

Initial symptoms :

The person will not notice any sign for few hours except a little sting on the area in which the spider has bitten. But after 4-6 hours, the place will start hurting more and more. The area looks like a bruise or blister and it becomes purple or bluish color which will gradually turn brown and becomes crusty within few days.

Symptoms :

There will be severe pain and swelling on the area. The blister formed on the area will have blur or brown color spot ringed by redness. It will discharge yellow or green colored pus. The affected area shows ulceration thus breaks in the mucous membrane of the skin. The color of the urine will be darker than usual. For some people there can be fever, chills, joint pain, nausea or vomiting after 4 hours.

Diagnoses :

Your doctor will look for the above symptoms and carefully examine the injured area. He might order for blood and urine test for making right analysis.

Treatment :

Once you know that you have been bitten by brown recluse spider, you have to clean the wound with soap water. Consult your doctor if you have severe symptoms and pain. You can apply ice on the injured area for reducing inflammation. Keep the injured area in elevated position so that poison from the area will not travel to the heart. You can apply compression bandage on the wound. Over the counter antihistamines can be taken to reduce itching and pain.

Your doctor will clean the wound and prescribe antivenom injection to fight the poison injected. Steroid injection is given to reduce swelling and pain. He can also give you Tetanus immunization and antibiotics for preventing bacterial infection on the wound.

You have to make follow up with your doctor for few days or until the wound is completely healed. Necrotic lesions or blisters will take enough time for healing. For some cases, the doctor will have to remove the dead tissue by surgery to preventing the infection to other areas.

Pictures of Brown Recluse Spider Bite :

Images, Pics, Pictures and Photos of Brown Recluse Spider Bite

Prevention :

Be careful when you find brown recluse spider in your garden since they will enter your house without your knowledge. Learn to recognize them and take precautions. Keep the closets and attics clean. Check your bed sheets before getting into the bed. Reduce piling up cluster things in garages and basements. Make sure that you are wearing long gloves when cleaning the closets and cupboards in winter season.

Brown Recluse Spider Bite – Stages, Pictures, Symptoms, Treatment

Brown Recluse Spider Bite – Stages, Pictures, Symptoms, Treatment

Brown Recluse Spider Bite – Stages

In very bad cases, these same agents of inflammation can also cause injury. It is these secondary causes of the venom, which are rare, may cause more substantial side effects of the bite:

• Red blood cell destruction


• Platelet count which is low


• Clots of blood in the capillaries but loss of ability to develop clots where needed


• Kidney damage


• Coma


• Death

Brown Recluse Spider Bite Symptoms

The brown recluse bite usually goes unnoticed in the beginning due to the fact that bites are painless. In some case there is certain minor burning with the feeling of the sting of the bee that could be observed at the stage of the bite. The symptoms normally develop 2 to 8 hours after the initial bite. Please remember that majority of bites create very little tissue damage.

Victims may have these symptoms:

• Pain at the site of the bite which is severe and develops after approximately 4 hours


• Itching which is severe


• Vomiting


• Nausea


• Fever


• Muscle pain

At first, the site of the bite is a little red and when examined closely it may show fang marks. More common, the site of the bite can become fixed and heal with very little scarring finishing healing in days or weeks. But in those occasional cases, the local reaction will be much starker with swelling as well as blistering often leading to a blue color, and then leading to scarring and necrotic lesion. Signs which can be present are:

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• Commonly blistering


• Necrosis or death of the skin and less common the subcutaneous fat


• Destructive and severe lesions with in rare cases deep and wide borders

If you believe that you or someone in your household has been bitten by this type of spider, the individual needs to be seen by a medical professional that day. If at all possible, bring the spider to the doctor’s office as identification of this spider will be helpful in making the diagnosis correctly.

If the individual is unable to see their primary care physician that day, the individual should see medical professionals at an emergency room.

Brown Recluse Spider Bite Treatment

The physician will try to first make the correct diagnosis. The doctor will ask questions about the bite event, time of the bite, any other medical problems, medication as well as allergies

Lab studies will be performed including complete blood work up, electrolytes, kidney functions, blood clotting studies and urinalysis.

After the initial evaluation, the medical professional may provide treatment as follows:

• Tetanus shot


• Pain medication


• Antibiotics if any signs of infection are present in the wound area


• Anti-histamines such as Benadryl for relief of itching

There is no anti-venom available in the US to counteract the brown recluse spider bite. There are some controversial therapies such as steroids and the drug dapsone. But these are reserved for individuals with very severe systemic disease such as anemia, blood clotting problems and Kidney Failure. These therapies have proven to have little benefits.

The individual will need to have a follow up visit with the physician due to the wounds needing to be checked daily for at least 3 to 4 days. After the initial exam by the physician, the individual can expect the following type of follow-up:

• Daily follow up of the wounds for the initial 96 hours in order to assess the probability or extent of necrosis of the wound


• For individuals with systemic disease, hospitalization may be necessary


• Antibiotes will be continued until any secondary infections clear


• Follow up with surgeon if there is necrosis of the wound. At these times the surgeon can remove very carefully any dead tissue in necrotic areas

Brown Recluse Spider Bite Pictures