Hair Tourniquets: Have You Heard About Them?

A strand of hair can cause serious harm to your baby if it is wound anywhere on his body in the form of a hair tourniquet. Have you heard about this before? Here we tell you what a hair tourniquet is and how to prevent it to avoid injury to your baby.

Molly’s case

One such case arose in early January 2016 in Wichita, Kansas in the United States, when a strand of hair got tangled in the toe of a baby named Molly.

By the time his parents realized, the hair tourniquet had already cut the skin of the finger around the entire contour so they came for medical help. Fortunately there were no major injuries other than the cut and the baby has healed quickly, however her parents have wanted to alert others to be vigilant so that this does not happen to more babies.

Molly’s father, Scott, posted on Facebook a photo of his daughter’s swollen finger explaining what happened and immediately went viral and was full of comments from other parents sharing similar experiences, which shows that it is something more common than usual. that is thought.

How does a hair tourniquet work?

When a strand of hair or some other loose fiber falls on the baby, it can wrap around some of the fingers of the hands or around some of the toes and even around the penis. This strand of hair could be tightened in such a way that blood flow is restricted in this area and even completely interrupted, causing the finger to swell and turn purple.

Prolonged interruption of blood flow to any part of the body can have significant consequences such as permanent tissue damage and lead to possible loss of the limb in question.

The specialists speak

Dr. Amy Seery, a resident of the Family Medicine program at Via Christi, has commented that extreme cases are really rare, but that there can undoubtedly be serious tissue damage if parents disregard these hair tourniquets, even having the possibility of losing a finger or toe. He also warned that at times hair strands can wrap around the penis of babies.

It is usually a minor problem that parents take care of at home by cutting the hair strand and eliminating the tourniquet, therefore it is difficult to have figures of these cases and to follow up.

He recommended that whenever it was possible to remove the hair without causing further damage, it should be done at home and that a health service be consulted in cases where the swelling did not subside in a few hours or the finger remained purple or sore.

How to prevent a hair tourniquet?

You can take into account the following recommendations, especially if you have just given birth and are in that period of significant hair loss that most moms go through.

• Pick up your hair when you go to bathe or change your baby, this will reduce the chances of hair falling on it inadvertently.
• Check the bath water while your baby is in it.
• Check your baby when drying and before dressing. Pay special attention to the most vulnerable areas like your baby’s fingers and toes or penis.
• Wash mittens, gloves, and stockings by turning them inside out. Once dry, examine them and remove any strands of hair that have remained between the fabric or fabric. You can help yourself by passing a rubberized roller of the kind used to remove pet hair from clothes or also with a piece of adhesive tape.

Be attentive to your baby’s behavior, if you notice that he cries a lot and you can’t find the reason (sleepy, hungry, hot, cold, thirsty) undress him completely and examine his body in search of the cause.

Images courtesy of hatunzade.com, imagui.com, pinterest.com.