The 28-year-old was told if she had waited one more day it could have been fatal
A woman says shaving her bikini line left her fighting for her life after an infected ingrown hair turned into sepsis. Christy Collins initially thought she had a painful boil after noticing a small lump on her bikini line last month.
But within days, the swelling had ballooned into a rock-hard mass which the 28-year-old described as being “the size of an iPhone 16 Pro Max”. She became so ill she struggled to walk and even passed out before eventually being rushed into emergency surgery.
Doctors diagnosed Christy with sepsis and warned that waiting another day to seek treatment could have been life-threatening. “The thought that shaving could have killed me is horrible,” said Christy, from Bournemouth, Dorset.
“I was wearing shorts in London, I was out all day, getting hot, and when I got home that night, I felt a gumboil-sized lump on my bikini line. I sat down to do my make-up, and it seeped out.
“I squeezed it, and I shouldn’t have; it was a bad idea. It was sore, and after I squeezed it, it went from a boil to a massive sac cyst that stretched from my bikini line to my bum.”
Over the next few days, Christy’s condition rapidly deteriorated. She said: “It was massive, red and rock hard. I thought it was an ingrown hair, but it was the size of an iPhone 16 Pro Max within a couple of days.
“I went to the pub and was so lightheaded, but I’d been staying hydrated. All of a sudden my vision went blurry, then it went, and my hearing went. I came around and went home.
“The next day, the sore was getting worse, and I was feeling weak. I was waddling around. I called 111, and they told me to go to A&E, but it was late, so I waited until the next day to speak to my GP online, and they gave me antibiotics.
“I couldn’t stand up by the end of the day, but I kept thinking I’d be fine. The area on my bum was getting hotter.”
It was only after a concerned friend urged Christy to go to hospital that doctors discovered how serious the infection had become.
She was diagnosed with sepsis and rushed into theatre for a one-hour operation to remove infected tissue. Christy said: “My friend saved my life. I’m so grateful to her. At the hospital, it became traumatic.
“I thought I’d be given a pill, but when they said I needed surgery, I was so scared. They said my infection markers and blood pressure were through the roof. The doctors said if I were older, it would be a different story, or if I left it an extra day, it would have been life-threatening.
“I was crying for days; it was so scary. Then they said I had sepsis. When I woke up, I was in so much pain. I was out of it because I was on so many pain medications, and I was hallucinating. The nurses said my age is what kept me going.”
Christy spent five days recovering in hospital and has been left with a wound around two inches deep and five inches wide. The wound has been left open so it can heal from the inside out.
She is taking antibiotics and attending her GP surgery every day to have it dressed. Christy said: “I can’t go out apart from to the doctors. My mum is having to shower me, and I need help to go to the toilet. I’ve lost my independence at 28.
“I’m reliant on my mum like a baby when I’m used to doing everything for myself.”
Christy is now warning others not to dismiss an ingrown hair if it shows signs of becoming infected. She added: “I’ve always shaved my bikini line, and ingrown hairs are so common.
“You have to be so careful. The nurse said they see this a lot and to never shave your bikini line. It’s not safe.”
