Hand Surgeon Provides Simple Tips to Avoid Spoiling Your Family’s Halloween
Excitement looms around the corner for many families as we
begin to pick and choose our favorite Halloween costumes, dig up the ghoulish
decorations, and of course, carve our pumpkins. As a Board Certified Fellowship
Trained Hand Surgeon at TOCA, I can tell you this holiday brings with it some
degree of trepidation. I have seen year
after year devastating injuries as a result of improper safety precautions when
it comes to carving pumpkins. A hand
slipping down the blade of a knife too many times results in more than just a
cut in the skin.
These injuries are even more common in kids and
adolescents. As much as a family affair
as this may be, the carving should be left up to the adults or at most,
adolescents under supervision. Pumpkin
carving parties can have a number of distractions and someone should always be
designated to oversee the safety of these young adults to make sure safe and
proper technique is being utilized. For
young children, I would recommend you engage them more in cleaning out the
pumpkin seeds and the actual design work for your unique pumpkin ideas. Drawing your ideas onto the pumpkin or
tracing them from paper drawings still allows them to be a part of the process.
Many of these accidents can be avoidable by taking simple
precautions and using the right tools.
There are many commercially available pumpkin carving kits with specific
tools which lessen the risk of injury and if injury does occur, it is often
less severe. The use of typical kitchen
knives for pumpkin carving typically leads to the most common and most
devastating injuries. Here is a list of
probably the most common causes of injury I see as a hand surgeon:
1.
Sharp knives get easily lodged into the tough
pulp of the pumpkin. When someone tries
to push or pull the knife further, the hand can slide down the very slippery
blade resulting in injury.
2.
While trying to pull the knife out, I see
injuries to the non-dominant hand which is used for counter force to dislodge
the knife.
3.
The non-dominant hand is also frequently injured
along the web space of the hand between the thumb and pointer finger when the
knife is being used to make a cross cut through the pumpkin.
4.
Stabbing injuries are also encountered when one
hand is used to support the back of the pumpkin and the knife penetrates
through the back side or the pumpkin slips and rolls from being poorly
stabilized.
The more severe injuries most commonly result in damage to
the tendons of the hand, the small sensation or movement (motor) nerves and
also the arteries that supply the critical blood supply to the fingers. Injury to the nerves will always result in
some degree of lost, altered sensation, or even increased painful
sensitivity. Repair of these complex
injuries can require months of healing and rehabilitation.
Although it is impossible to completely avoid injury,
following these simple tips can help avoid or lessen the severity of these
injuries. Here is a list of
recommendations you can follow to keep this holiday safe and fun for everyone
in your family.
1.
Get the right equipment. Sharp ordinary kitchen knives are
dangerous. There are many commercially
available pumpkin carving kits on the market.
Make them an investment in your family’s safety. The Journal of Preventative Medicine has
shown these kits to be effective in lowering the number and severity of carving
related injuries.
2.
Make smaller and more controlled cuts with the
right instrument. Avoid using a tool
which has the capability of passing through the entire pumpkin which can injure
the hand in back providing support.
3.
Prepare your workstation. The work surface you choose to use can
decrease your risk of injury. Choose a
surface which will decrease the risk of the pumpkin sliding around as you apply
pressure with carving tools. This also
lessens the risk to your non-dominant hand by allowing the work station to
steady the pumpkin while keeping your hand out of the path of the blade. Commercially available bases are also
available.
4.
Dry your hands, your tools and your pumpkin
thoroughly and frequently. The pulp of a
pumpkin is extremely slippery so anytime you handle sharp instruments with a
compromised grip, you are asking for injury.
5.
Control your distractions. This is especially true for those pumpkin
carving parties with multiple people, multiple age ranges and levels of
experience. Use the chaperone method
where one person watches for sharp tools lying dangerously around, corrects
dangerous technique, and assists in drying the carver’s hands and tools
frequently.
6.
Avoid alcohol.
This may seem obvious but I can’t tell you how many times I see
avoidable injuries caused by poor judgment, diminished coordination, and a lack
of focus. Leave the libations for
afterwards when everyone can enjoy each other’s creations without someone
sitting in the Emergency Department.
Should you or your family happen to be injured from a cut or
stabbing wound, apply direct pressure to the injury. This is usually the most affective and
quickest way to control bleeding. Wash
the wound thoroughly with soap and water or other equivalent disinfectant. Apply a topical antibiotic and appropriate
sized bandage. More severe injuries will
require medical attention. If 15 minutes
of pressure to the injury does not stop the bleeding, if you notice
discoloration to the hand, if you notice an immediate or later change in the
sensation to your hand or finger, or if you find you cannot move any of the
joints of your hand normally, you should seek medical attention
immediately. Urgent Care facilities and
Emergency Departments are a good place to start. They can often evaluate the wound for more
significant injuries and provide stich closure to wounds. I can’t emphasize enough; however, how
important it is to make sure you receive appropriate follow up with one of the
board certified hand surgeons here at TOCA if there is any question at all
regarding the possibility of further injury.
Although these injuries almost never require hospital admission and
emergency surgery, timely follow up as an outpatient in our office can make a
world of difference if surgery is found to be necessary.
I do hope you find this information helpful in avoiding
potential injury to you and your family during this and future Halloween
seasons.
- Dr. Burgess
TOCA
602-277-6211
