Have you ever been bitten by a brown recluse spider?

Yes. It was a few years ago. I was bitten at work in the office right after the routine extermination. It was nothing at first just a little red dot. Within in a few days it started to look terrible, red, swollen but I thougt well it will go away. No such luck it got to the size of a silver dollar and looked infected so I went to my doctor, who sent me to a specialist..it was a bite from a brown recluse and it was eating the flesh away under the skin. The specialist cleaned and I had to under go HBO (not the TV channel) treatment for two weeks twice a day. The HBO treatment scared me silly I had to get tranquilized before they slid me into the chamber. The whole ordeal was horrible and I have a deep scar left as a reminder.

No, i've never been bitten. I've always been scared i would be bitten though because i know how dangerous a brown recluse bite can be. I've researched it a bit and i've seen pictures of people who have been bitten and its just awful! I would hope that the doctor would be sure of the kind of bite it was so he/she would know how to properly treat it. Hope your friends are okay.

I have not been bitten but my mother was. It does look nasty I agree. What gets me is they say there aren't any brown recluses here in Florida but I have heard from many that they have been bit or have known others who have been in the state. Makes one wonder huh? I am glad to hear they went to the doctor. With brown recluse bites you do need to get them checked out and medicine for them. They are not something to fool around with.