These images show how this young woman ended up with a giant upper lip after a centipede bit her while she was asleep.

The incident took place in the municipality of of Sao Vicente, which is located on the Brazilian coast in the state of Sao Paulo.

The young woman has been named as Nataly Galdino, 21, who works as a foreign trade intern, and she is said to still be recovering from the nasty creepy-crawly bite, according to local media outlet Globo.

Her mouth was so swollen that she had to go to hospital and after the incident she shared images of her face on social media.

Explaining what happened to her, the young woman said: “I was sleeping and, in the middle of the night, I felt something prick my upper lip and I saw that it was stuck to my blanket with its claw in my mouth, but as it was dark, I pulled.

“I pulled and didn’t want to let go, I tried for five seconds, with an unbearable pain and it wouldn’t come unstuck. I got up from bed, turned on the light, saw my cut mouth and the giant centipede on the bed cover.”

She said that she called her parents who took her to hospital at the Emergency Care Unit (UPA) in the Northwest Zone, in the city of Santos, which is also located on the Atlantic coast in the state of Sao Paulo.

She added: “I was running out of air.”

She said: “They took me to the emergency room because I was not able to breathe properly. They gave me medicine for allergies and pain, but the doctor explained that, despite being a poisonous creature, it did not represent a risk to my life, as would have been the case with a scorpion.”

The young woman explained that she was very afraid at first, saying: “At the time, it was nerve-racking because I didn’t know what the effects could be. I thought it could be very poisonous and that I could even die, but thankfully it wasn’t.

“But I decided to alert people on social media explaining that centipedes like humidity and warning of the pain they can cause, because I felt a lot of pain and I always see people talking about having problems with these animals appearing in their homes.”

The young woman said that she was in the hospital for about two hours before being released. She has been prescribed an unspecified medication to take home.

She said: “My mouth is much less swollen, but I still have the sore where it stung.”

The Brazilian Ministry of Health reminded people that centipedes are poisonous but not all that toxic for humans. They nevertheless said that it was good idea to seek medical advice if bitten by a centipede.

They said that centipedes are very fast nocturnal hunting animals and their bodies have adapted to penetrate crevices where they hide during the day.