A young mother has died, leaving behind a 3-year-old — all because of a lip piercing.

Andressa Souza reportedly went to a backstreet parlor in her home of Itaporã, Brazil and got a new lip piercing. The piercing cost her only £9 — which is about $11 USD! To put that in perspective, the average cost of a lip piercing in the United States is around $40 USD. Souza got a serious discount, but it would unfortunately lead to a serious medical issue.

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Her mother, Maria Aparecida da Silva Oliveira, told Diario do Nordeste that her daughter began feeling “unwell” around June 13. Her family originally thought it was due to a mosquito-borne viral illness that recently had an outbreak in their area, but the doctor thought different:

“Around June 13, she began to feel unwell, with severe headaches and fever. We thought it was dengue because there was an outbreak here in Itaporã. We took her to the doctor and, until then, we thought that was it, because my other son had it too.”

It was concluded that her illness was caused by an infection due to her lower-lip piercing. Maria told the local news outlet her daughter died twice as they were transferring her to another hospital for an MRI — and then died twice again at the second hospital! She was brought back a total of four times after experiencing cardiac arrest:

Poor woman… Doctors believed it was too late to help her, but they did try. They rushed her to surgery where they attempted to remove the infected piercing. Unfortunately, due to the fast progression of the infection, things were only looking worse. Doctors explained:

“We saw that her mouth was very swollen, there was no way to move it. It was so swollen that there was no way to take it out.”

They couldn’t even remove the piercing because the infection was so bad and her mouth was so swollen. Just awful…

Andressa was moved to the ICU where she was intubated, but the infection had gone septic and infiltrated her brain:

“The infection went into the bloodstream and, from there, lodged in the brain. She underwent surgery and was intubated. She stayed from June 15th to July 9th [in the ICU].”

Medics told Oliveira that the infection had affected around 37 percent of her daughter’s brain and unfortunately there wasn’t much else they could do. After 24 days in intensive care, the young mom passed away. She was only 20 years old…

Souza leaves behind her husband and a 3-year-old son. Maria reported that her grandson is “inconsolable” after the loss of his mother:

“He is also inconsolable because, as little as he is, he saw his mother in that situation. It is very difficult for him.”

Just heartbreaking. That poor child…

Her mother said Andressa didn’t mention if the piercing was done by a professional or not. It’s still unknown which business she received the lip piercing from.

MayoClinic recommends you always go to a professional with sterilized equipment. It’s also recommended to wash your piercings twice a day — use soap and water for body piercings and an antiseptic, alcohol-free mouthwash for mouth piercings. Avoid swimming, don’t twist or pull at the jewelry unless you’re cleaning it, and always remember to leave the piercing in as taking it out can trap the infection inside the wound.

Our hearts go out to Andressa and her loved ones during this difficult time. We hope they can find healing after such a tragic loss.

R.I.P.

[Image via FaceBook/Andressa Souza]

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