Taking a selfie and posting it on Facebook may have saved a woman's life.

Susann Stacy, from Kentucky, used Facebook to make an urgent plea for help after her husband allegedly attacked her, pulling the phone out of the wall so she couldn't call 911, the US emergency telephone number.

Instead, she posted the graphic picture on the social network with the caption: "Please help, anyone," using a Wifi connection since she had no reception on her mobile phone.

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One of her Facebook friends saw the picture and called the Sheriff's department.

She told police her husband, Donnie Stacey, used a handgun to beat her after he overheard her speaking on the phone with another man.

Leslie County Sheriff's Deputy Sam Mullins told WKTY she suffered several lacerations to the head and her hair was matted with blood.

Donnie Stacy was arrested and is facing assault charges at the Leslie County Detention Centre, according to WKYT-TV.