Surgical repair of the wound may be required. Most bites are mild and fit into the first two groups. The third type of reaction is rare in this area of the state. There is some indication that the Loxosceles laeta species may produce more severe reactions than Loxosceles deserta . It is important to remember that not all skin lesions that occur are caused by spider bites and in particular by Loxosceles spiders.
Many spiders are capable of producing mild skin lesions when they bite.
If these do not become infected, they usually heal in a short period of time. Many other biting insects, such as fleas, ticks, bedbugs, assassin beetles and others can cause wounds that initially resemble brown spider bites. Documented encounters with Loxosceles spiders in Southern California are very rare. Brown spider bites do not produce wounds except at the site of the bite. Recent newspaper accounts, that attributed reactions in patients that required multiple limb amputations to brown spider bites, were more likely from the increasingly described, highly virulent Streptococcal infections that produce gangrenous limbs requiring surgical amputation.