What will a brown recluse bite look like?
Brown recluse spider bites have several featured that help in diagnosis. • They are generally painful, worse when located on arms and legs, and will progressively get more painful with time. • The bite will lack swelling in the center, possibly even be slightly sunken at the center. • The bite will usually be pale in the center due to the effects of the venom because it shuts down blood supply to the bite area. Sometimes the pale center is a little blue or purple as well, but other times the pale center is surrounded by blue or purple due to hemorrhage. Sometimes the center has a small black dot marking the area of bite and there can be a small blister around the dot. When the center is pale and is surrounded by blue/purple hemorrhage and red outside of that, it is called the “red, white and blue” sign.
