This woman's hair and nails fell off after she was bitten by a tiger mosquito on holiday

Mosquito bites can be harmless, but they can also carry all sorts of diseases. A young woman from Ashford, Kent, learned that lesson the hard way, after she had an extreme allergic reaction, which caused her hair and nails to fall off, among other things.

Amy Wells was bitten by a tiger mosquito

What was supposed to be an idyllic holiday, during which she got engaged to her boyfriend, Charlie, turned Amy's life upside down. While on holiday in the Caribbean in January 2023, Amy Wells was bitten by a tiger mosquito, which caused a massive rash all over her body. She was treated with antibiotics at the local hospital, which unfortunately reacted with a drug she was already taking, amoxicillin. Within days, she was covered in blisters, and her skin started peeling off. She had to take ten weeks off work, and her ordeal left scars on her legs. Amy told The Sun:

It was hell on earth. The blisters covered my whole body - even my eyes and my lips.

Amy's skin fell off in chunks, making her look like she had been involved in a fire. She explained she had never had an allergic reaction before:

It was extremely painful. People kept asking me if I'd been in a fire. It's very odd. I've never had any kind of allergic reaction to anything.

Her hair and nails fell off

Amy was allowed to fly home in February that year, but the flight took a turn for the worst. Indeed, she felt her legs burning up, and they swelled to twice their normal size. When she got back to the UK, Amy visited her local A&E. It was then that she discovered her ordeal had been caused by a tiger mosquito bite. Her legs started healing after three weeks, but she still has scars. In April 2023, her hair and nails fell off. By May 2023, she was bald, which doctors accounted to the shock of her experience. She explained:

Losing my hair was the hardest part - your hair really defines you. I looked in the mirror and I was like 'That's not me'.

Following her horrendous allergic reaction, Amy decided to live her life to the fullest. In October 2023, she married her boyfriend, Charlie. She told The Sun:

After everything that had happened we decided not to hang about. You never expect that something like this can happen to you. It's such a rare illness and I was so healthy.

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Source used:

The Sun: 'HELL ON EARTH' My dream holiday left me covered in blisters and I lost my hair and nails – people asked if I had been in a fire