This was one prickly situation.

A falling porcupine landed on the head of a Brazilian woman Wednesday, leaving her with 272 quills in her scalp. The photo of the carnage has been making its rounds on the Internet:

Sandra Nabucco, of Gavea, told Globo she was walking her dog when the spiky creature fell off a lamp post.

"An old person or a child would have died," the 52-year-old said, according to a translation of Globo by HuffPost UK.

A surgeon was able to remove the quills with tweezers. Nabucco is now taking antibiotics to prevent infection.

Nabucco told The Dodo that though the incident was "frightening and very painful," she's glad she is happy the 10-pound critter survived

"I saved its life," she said. "He broke his fall on my head."

She's lucky a bigger animal didn't land on her. Last year, a Delaware woman was killed by a falling llama.