A woman claims her holiday was “ruined” after a strange insect bite left her in severe pain with a blister the size of a golf ball.
In July, Ella Howatson, from Warrington, England, left for a trip abroad with her girlfriends to Zante in Greece.
Having shared her experience online, the 20-year-old’s story has gone viral with over 4.2 million viewers tuning in to hear about the bizarre incident (@ellahowatson ).
The first few days went by swimmingly as Ella enjoyed the sun, swimming, and nights out with her mates.
But on the third day, disaster struck.
“After having some tea and drinks, we went back to the hotel room but we were boiling because our air con barely worked,” Ella told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“We had two doors for the balcony – a glass one, and one with holes in, so we left the glass doors open and shut the door with holes so we could get better airflow in the room.
“When I woke up I went to itch my leg and I felt a little lump, and when I saw it I was shocked!
“This was my first ever blister so I really panicked and started searching up what it could be from.
“Google said it could be a fire ant, a brown recluse spider, or a mosquito.”
Panicked, Ella covered the bizarre blister with a plaster but it kept growing.
Ella said: “The blister began to bulge out as it got bigger and bigger.
“This is when I got really scared because I thought I would accidentally pop it, and it was also really hard to enjoy the rest of my holiday!
“I couldn’t jump into the pool or off the boat when we went on a trip, I was always scared I’d bang into something or someone on the strip – it was such a pain.
“It ruined my holiday.”
Once home – and with her blister still extremely big and painful – she rushed to the chemist for advice.
She said: “There they told me not to pop it but when I got back to my house my boyfriend and step-dad were telling me to pop it.
“My boyfriend popped it with a sterile pin and had to push all of the liquid out with his fingers.
“It took a while and it was so painful as I could feel all the loose skin drop!”
Unfortunately, the blister grew back but was re-popped as Ella went to the doctor to get antibiotic cream.
It took just over a week to heal fully but the 20-year-old still has no idea how she got it.
She added: “I’ve still got a scar but it’s much lighter in colour and less noticeable.
“I don’t know what could have bit me, but the day after I saw an ant running along the floor.
“I also got another tiny one on my ankle but it was much smaller, and it ended up popping on the boat trip – this didn’t hurt at all because it was so small.
“The only reason my boyfriend ended up popping the big blister was because I had another holiday a week after I landed from Zante and I didn’t want to go on another plane with a blister that size!”
In the video posted to TikTok, Ella shows a picture of herself in Zante, the night before the incident.
Then, she puts in clips of each day as the blister gets bigger and bigger, before eventually getting popped.
The TikTok ends with Ella showing the scarring in the shape of a large red circle.
The video has over 88,000 likes and 1,000 comments from baffled users.
Mae said: “In Philippines we just pop it like it’s nothing.”
Jeanie added: “You should never pop blisters as they can get infected. they will go on their own.”
Madison wrote: “That scar is the perfect circle tho I’m impressed.”
Joe commented: “Yeah it’s fine now don’t listen to the doc.” [sic]
“Omg the same happened to me!!! I popped it and was left with a whole in my arm for months. 2 years later I still have a big scar!,” added Amy. [sic]
“This happened to my mum in Greece I think it’s from an ant bite but I might be wrong,” said Grace.
“I just pop it like a bubble wrap,” wrote someone else.
“Same thing happened to me but worse, from a brown recluse spider,” added Zee.
