By ninemsn staff
A young Melbourne woman almost died last year after a trainee waxer botched a Brazilian and gave her a horrific infection.
The beauty treatment left the 20-year-old with some minor cuts, which later became infected and grew into a rash which extended to her chest, arms and neck.
The infection got so bad that at first Austin hospital doctors thought she had a flesh-eating disease, but discovered the truth when they examined her under a general anaesthetic.
Doctors used anitbiotics to save the woman, who suffers from diabetes and has a lower immune system.
But just six months later the same woman was back again with a similar condition — this time caused by shaving — bringing to light the dangers those with low immune systems face when undergoing beauty treatment.
A study prepared by Monash University reveals that 90 Victorians went to hospital last year with waxing injuries, the Herald Sun reports.
But the unnamed woman's case was one of the most serious, according to Austin's director of infectious diseases, Prof Lindsay Grayson.
"This case represents one of the more extreme examples and this patient would have died without appropriate medical care," he said.
"This didn't occur just once, it occurred twice, and we have had other cases, though never as serious as this, where people will do strange things to do what they perceive as beautiful.
"Many of these new beauty treatments may be fine for healthy people, but patients who have weakened immune systems should think twice about having these.
"Waxing is a very gross way of removing hair and in doing that, it is not possible to wax without some micro-trauma to the skin.
"That is normally okay, because our immune systems deal with it, but depending on the location it can have various risks."
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