A visitor to Hilton Head, South Carolina, is on the mend after being bitten on the hand by a shark.
The swimmer, who wishes to remain anonymous, was around Palmeto Dunes July 12 for the second time in 20 years.
The 67-year-old woman had been at the beach for about 5 hours when she headed into murky, thigh-deep water. Around 3:30 p.m. she was talking to the person next to her when a shark grabbed her left hand. She quickly shook her hand, and the fish left.
She returned to shore and spoke with a lifeguard who wrapped the wound.
“I asked if it looked bad enough to go to urgent care but he wasn’t sure, and I had not overly looked at it as I didn’t want to scare the person I was with,” she told Tracking Sharks.
After walking to her condo, her husband took her to urgent care. After the bandage on her hand was removed, she was sent to the hospital where she was given antibiotics and moved to a surgery ward.
Thankfully, no tendons were torn, and doctors sutured the wound using around 24 stitches. Although she will have scars on both sides of her hand, she said she feels very lucky it wasn’t worse.
The injury did not hamper the vacation time for the woman and her family.
“I love the beach and did go back in the next day, but not far because of the stitches. The waves were petty high, and I did not want to lose my balance and get my hand wet,” she said, because doctors warned her about the possibility of infection.
She wondered why the lifeguard did not clear the beach after she reported the bite, although that may have been because the shark was not physically seen.
The location has been marked on the 2022 Shark Attack Map.
