A simple paper cut turned into a viral cautionary tale for 63-year-old Melinda Howard of Mississippi.
Howard tells PEOPLE she was breaking down cardboard boxes for recycling when one of them nicked her hand — a small injury she didn’t think twice about. “I was cramming a bunch of boxes… one just caught my hand and gave me a paper cut, and I was like, ‘Oh, for crying out loud!’” she recalled.
She quickly cleaned the wound, applied antibacterial ointment, and covered it with a bandage. But due to previous long-term prednisone use — which she took while living in Colorado to help with elevation-related issues — her skin is thin and slow to heal.
“I’m 63, but my skin is really thin and I am a slow healer,” Howard explained. “I knew I would have to keep it covered well over a week.”
About a week later, she began experiencing pain. A seasoned long-distance runner who logs 50 to 100 miles each week, Howard says it takes a lot for her to notice discomfort. But this pain didn’t go away.
When she finally removed the bandage, she says her hand was visibly swollen and “looked bad.” Her husband rushed her to urgent care, where she received oral antibiotics, an antibiotic shot, and a topical cream to treat the infection. She was instructed to return in a few days for re-evaluation.
Thankfully, Howard says her hand has significantly improved since then. “The swelling is pretty much gone. It is red… but the redness is much better than it was. My rings spin on my fingers again. That makes me very happy,” she said. “It was a tiny paper cut, but my hand just decided it would overreact.”
Doctors have not provided an exact timeline for full recovery, but Howard remains optimistic.
