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Dad Warns New Parents About The Dangerous ‘Hair Tourniquet’.
A Kansas father has a warning for all parents after finding something strange on his infant daughter’s foot.
In a Jan. 21 Facebook post, Scott Walker said his daughter, Molly, was “cranky and screaming” during lunch, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. As the little girl got worked up, she began to overheat, and her mother decided to remove her socks to cool her down.
Following the sock removal, her parents saw the strand of hair wrapped tightly around her toe.
“This is called a hair tourniquet, which is literally a strand of hair that, while inside a sock, unexplainably wraps around a toe so tight that it can cut through the skin and potentially cut off blood circulation,” Walker wrote. “Luckily for Molly, she has a mother with medical emergency superpowers who was able to remove the hair with tweezers and a magnifying glass within a few minutes.”
Forty-five minutes after the hair tourniquet was removed, little Molly’s toe still showed painful evidence of the hair tourniquet. Her father explained that the hair had cut through her skin.
As of Thursday morning, the picture of Molly has been shared over 25,000 times and liked more than 36,000 times.
“The hair tourniquet syndrome wasn’t anything I ever heard about,” Scott said to TODAY.com. “When we found it was pretty stressful because any time your kid is hurt it’s stressful; you feel helpless. I’m lucky enough to have a wife who is an awesome nurse who was able to remove the hair in minutes.”
Hair Tourniquet Syndrome
Hair tourniquet syndrome occurs in infants. It happens when a piece of hair or thread wraps around a body part. The tightly wrapped hair or thread constricts normal blood flow and causes pain. Infants under 4 months are most at risk since this is the time when their mothers are losing hair due to hormonal changes. A tourniquet can happen anywhere on the body, but it most often occurs on a finger or toe. A tourniquet may also develop around the penis, scrotum, labia, wrist, or ankle. In severe cases, a hair tourniquet can lead to infection or tissue death.
CAUSES
Hair tourniquet syndrome can occur when the hands or feet are covered in pajamas or mittens and a loose string or hair becomes wrapped around a finger or toe.
SYMPTOMS
Infants with hair tourniquet syndrome will usually cry a lot and cannot be soothed. The area affected is often red and swollen.
DIAGNOSIS
This condition is diagnosed by a physical exam.
TREATMENT
A hair tourniquet must be removed immediately by your caregiver. The course of action will depend on the location and severity of the problem. Treatment may include:
- Medicine that numbs the area (local anesthetic) or medicine that helps the infant to relax (sedative).
- Immobilization to keep the infant still during the removal procedure.
- Use of an ointment to dissolve the hair or thread.
- Use of scissors, forceps, probes, or other tools to unwrap or cut the hair or thread.
- In severe cases, the use of a scalpel to make cuts (incisions) in the skin to access the tourniquet.
- Antibiotic medicines.
- Consultation with a specialist to assess any loss of function in the affected body part.
PREVENTION
- Change your child’s clothing regularly.
- Bathe your child regularly. Check for areas of pain or swelling.
Agencies/Canadajournal
