A woman posted shocking photos of her face on TikTok after spending a night in the emergency room. The images show her eyes completely swollen shut, apparently due to an allergic reaction.
«"This could be you," Patricia Braman, who posts under the handle freeme9038, wrote to her followers.
What did she do to provoke such a reaction?
Braman said her face swelled after she found a baby deer in the wild and "cuddled" with it, kissing the animal's head.
«"After five minutes, my eye looked like this," she said.
Image from photobank: Young spotted deer fawn.
Mysterious reason
Braman noted that the animal was found in a field that was about to be sown.
Many noted that the problem may not have been with the animal itself, but with the field where it was found.
«"There's hemlock all over the fields and ditches, I wonder if he was lying on it?" one person commented.
«"All parts of the hemlock plant are poisonous, including the seeds, roots, stems, leaves, and fruit," writes the Cleveland Clinic.
The clinic reports that the plant can be deadly if ingested and was often used in ancient Greece to execute criminals or prisoners, including Socrates.
However, the clinic also notes that the plant is only poisonous if swallowed, except in very rare cases when the poison enters the bloodstream through a cut on the nose or mouth.
However, it is extremely important to handle the plant with care.
«"You might have an allergy.".
However, other users seemed to believe the reaction was caused by an allergy to the deer itself.
«"I believe you 100 percent, but I had no idea there was a deer allergy," said one shocked viewer.
However, as Deer & Deer Hunting reports, this allergy is more common than many people think.
«"You may have a white-tailed deer allergy if your skin becomes discolored or itchy after coming into contact with deer hair, blood, or stomach fluids," the website says.
«"It's definitely not me."»
The site also notes that this allergy may be more likely if a person already has allergies to other pets.
However, in many cases these allergies go unnoticed because people do not typically come into close contact with wild deer.
In fact, many in the comments expressed relief that something like this would likely never happen to them.
«"That COULDN'T have been me and I WOULD NOT have done that," wrote one person, who is more cautious about nature than the original post's author.
This reaction, though severe, fortunately for the woman, appears to be improving. However, despite her ongoing recovery, it's definitely cause for concern before you next cuddle baby animals—no matter how adorable they may be.
Edition Newsweek contacted @freeme9038 via TikTok for comment. We were unable to confirm the details of the case.
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