Woman finds venomous brown recluse spider in her ear after complaining of earache

Protect your ears: A Missouri woman who attributed the discomfort in her ears to an allergy shot found a venomous spider in her ear canal.

Susie Torres of Kansas City noticed a slight pain Tuesday morning in her ear, which she attributed to an allergy shot she recently received, reported WDAF-TV.

“It was like when you went swimming and you have all of that water in your ear,” she told WDAF.

When she went to see a doctor, a medical assistant found something alarming.

"She came back in and told me it was a spider," Torres told KHSB-TV. "They had a few tools and worked their magic and got it out."

Turns out, the spider was a brown recluse, which is typically harmless and prefers to flee rather than fight, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Fortunately, for Torres, the spider did not bite.

But when they do bite, such as when they're trapped, the severe lesion that results requires medical attention, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the discovery, Torres puts cotton balls in her ears before she goes to bed, WDAF reported.

"I'm pretty terrified of spiders," she told KHSB.

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