Student nearly loses ear on holiday after spider bite

Halle Hizer went on a seven-day trip to Rhodes, Greece, with her gran for a chance to relax last month.

Just two days into the trip, the 20-year-old woke up with a swollen left ear but assumed it was from wearing her air pods during the flight.

However, after the musical theatre student's ear swelled up to double the size like a 'cauliflower' a private doctor gave her antibiotics.

After flying back home on 6 June she became 'scared she'd lose her ear' as she began experiencing 'stabbing' pains from the aeroplane pressure and pus started leaking out. Horrifying footage shows a large stream of pus pouring from Halle's ear when she squeezes the swollen appendage.

In hospital she was 'shocked' to discover the antibiotics she had been prescribed abroad were no longer recommended. Doctors were forced to surgically remove the abscess and surgeons revealed she'd been bitten by a spider.

Taking to TikTok, the holidaymaker shared footage of her spider bite captioned 'still waiting for the spidey senses to kick in', which has since gone viral with more than 2.1million views. In the clip you can see Halle's ear looking extremely red and swollen before it shows her lying in a hospital bed.

She is warning holidaymakers to take insect repellent with them and do their research on hotels as she believes it not being 'clean' was a 'big factor' in her being bitten.

Halle, who lives in Enfield, North London, said: "We went for a week just to relax and it ended up becoming a horror show. I wasn't expecting to find spiders like that in Greece.

"I woke up and my ear was really swollen. At the time I didn't think anything of it. I just thought it was a case of when you wear your air pods for too long and it was rubbing on my ear when it can hurt sometimes.

"The next day it kept getting bigger and bigger and pus started coming out of it and I didn't think at the time that I needed to go see a doctor or to the hospital. I thought maybe I had an ear infection.

"I went to the pharmacist and they gave me some antibiotic cream so I rubbed that on it but nothing was helping. It got to Friday and my grandma said 'we definitely need to see someone'.

"A doctor came and saw and he just took one look over and said 'you've got a bad infection in your ear and that's it'. He gave me antibiotics and I was taking them but my ear wasn't getting any better. It was getting worse."

After flying back home she went straight to hospital where she was 'shocked' to be told the antibiotics she was given in Greece hadn't been used in medicine for years and had led to the infection.

Days later she had surgery to remove the abscess in her ear and doctors revealed she had been bitten by a spider. Halle said: "From the pressure on the aeroplane my ear felt like someone stabbing me. My ear was double the size, it was like a cauliflower.

"I was scared I'd lose my ear because I was worried it was going to go septic. "In hospital they asked me ' do you know what happened?' I said not really. At the time we thought it was just a mosquito bite.

"When I had surgery that's when they realised I was bitten by a spider. The doctor said 'what antibiotics you were on' and I showed him the packet and he said 'that's so strange. We haven't used this antibiotic for years in medicine because it's been proven it doesn't work anymore'.

"I was quite shocked because I spent $180 euros on a private doctor in Greece and he gave me antibiotics that weren't even used in medicine anymore.

"Because I wasn't given the right antibiotics my ear ended up getting so infected to the point pus was coming out that was basically poison.

"Every five minutes my ear would be leaking. The doctors told me I would need surgery to remove the abscess. "That's when they realised from testing it that it wasn't a mosquito but it was a spider. You could see from the back the bite marks.

"It was swollen from the back and the front which I didn't realise at the time. I'm not too sure what type of spider it was. "If I was put on the right antibiotics to begin with it would've just got rid of the infection straight away but it just kept getting worse and worse."

The student was on antibiotics for two weeks and had a bandage around her head but the swelling has now gone down. She now urges other holidaymakers to use insect repellent and to read the cleanliness reviews of hotels as she believes that could've played a part.

Halle said: "My ear has gone back to normal and it's not huge anymore. A lot of the scabbing is gone now and have fallen off. It's still a little bit tender but granted because they did cut my ear open.

"I have a new fear of spiders but I'm hoping because we're in the UK I'm not going to come across any spider of that nature but who knows because I didn't think I was going to come across that in Greece.

"Make sure you have the repellent with you and make sure the hotel is clean because I feel like that played a big factor in it. Me and my grandma regret not reading the reviews. Just do your research before you go to places so you're not disappointed."