Updated

A 43-year-old Anchor Point man is expected to make a fully recovery after initially treating a gunshot wound to the head for five days with an antibiotic ointment.

Alaska State Troopers say the gun went off as James Doppler was handling it last weekend. Troopers say his girlfriend urged him to go the hospital but he refused, believing at the time he didn't need outside help to tend the wound.

However, in the following days, troopers say he began experiencing symptoms associated with a head wound. Agency spokeswoman Beth Ipsen in an email declined to detail the symptoms because of health privacy laws.

But they prompted him to seek treatment Thursday at the hospital in Homer.

Hospital officials then reported the shooting to troopers, who filed a report.