Some uninvited guests at an Australian bride’s party made a video from her wedding go viral. The uninvited guests in question? Leeches.
How did this bride on TikTok get a leech on her leg?
@madalyn.wise There's always something that doesn't go quite right at your wedding, right? 😂🤦🏻♀️ #leech #weddingtiktok #wedding #weddingnightmare #foryoupage #fyp #ohno ♬ Oh No - Kreepa
Madalyn Wise posted a video on TikTok that has been viewed more than 26 million times. The video depicts her discovering a large blood stain under her beautiful white wedding dress and then shows a large leech wiggling on the ground.
In a testimonial video, Wise explains how she married her husband on the Gold Coast in Australia. While they were doing a photo session, she said they “had to go into some really long sludge-y grass to get some nice photos.”
@madalyn.wise Okay here you go! Here is the Leech story time 😂 sorry if it's not very good I am super new to TikTok pls don't be mean… #leech #weddingstorytime ♬ original sound - Madalyn Wise
She speculates that that’s where the leeches must have latched on. None of the other guests at the party had any leeches, she reported.
It turned out that she had three leeches on her body, which would have been there for three hours, throughout her dinner and speeches. During the beginning of the dance portion of the evening, her mother-in-law whisked her away because she noticed blood on her dress.
Why didn’t she feel the leech on her leg?
Researchers have found that when leeches latch onto a person, they release an anti-coagulant, or a blood thinner, that causes the host to feel numb in that area, allowing the leech time to pull blood from their victim, per the New York Post.
Are there medical benefits to leeches?
The anticoagulant feature of leeches have offered benefits in modern medicine, with some physicians using leeches to prevent clotting after surgeries like skin grafting, plastic surgery and reattachment of body parts, per Wonderopolis.
Where can you get leeches?
According to Wonderopolis, leeches are “segmented worms with suction cups on each end of their bodies.” They can be anywhere from one inch to 10 inches long.
Leeches can “expand up to 10 times their size while feeding, allowing them to consume a lot of your blood at one time,” Healthline reported.
There are species of leeches all over the world, and can mainly be found in shallow bodies of fresh water, such as lakes, ponds or tall marshy grass, per Wonderopolis.
What do you do if a leech gets on you?
Don’t panic. It’s not deadly, just gross.
According to Healthline, this is what to do if you have a leech:
- You will want to first locate the head and mouth and pull under the leech until it becomes tight.
- Then slide a fingernail under the mouth you located.
- Flick the leech far away from you.
- Be sure to thoroughly clean the area where the leech was attached and bandage it up.
Do not pour salt, fire, shampoo or bug repellant on the leech, or try to yank on it, because it “can cause the leech to vomit blood into your wound and increase your risk of infection,” Healthline reported.