Risk from Fashion Hair Acessories

So who wasn't totally stunned and moved by the inauguration. Wow!

So I'm a little behind on the posts.

Anyway, I never thought of this, but it's pretty thought provoking, especially if you have a little girl:

Newswise —

Blunt head trauma is commonly encountered by pediatric neurosurgeons and emergency physicians. Every year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provides head injury statistics for patients treated at U.S. hospital emergency rooms. More than 550 product codes were included in the 2007 Product Summary Report. In 2007, an estimated 1.1 million people were treated for head injuries related to common products found inside the home. Beds are among the top five products that contribute to head injuries, with an estimated 106,513 injuries in 2007, 63,269 of which were in children age 14 and younger. Common household products that can actually penetrate the head include wires, plugs, nails, kitchen utensils, writing instruments, hair accessories, scissors, and toys, among others.

“Children younger than age 2 are at particularly high risk for neurological injury because the skull is not fully ossified and small forces may lead to penetration of the skull and dura,” stated Dr. Anderson. The complications of these injuries can be severe, including skull fracture, subdural and epidural hematoma, pneumocephalus, cerebral hemorrhage, infection, seizure, focal neurological deficits, and vascular complications.

“Hair beads are radiolucent and thus are difficult to differentiate on radiologic scans from the adjacent soft tissue — the air-filled hollow core may be mistaken for benign air that became entrapped at the time of injury. Fashion hair accessories present a hidden and often overlooked health risk in children who have suffered blunt head trauma, significant enough to cause skull fractures and complicate diagnosis and treatment,” remarked Dr. Anderson.

Injury from blunt trauma by common household objects carries the potential for significant morbidity and mortality. “The absence of an obvious foreign body on physical examination in one of these two cases, demonstrates the importance of considering fashion hair accessories in the differential diagnosis when children present with head injury following blunt trauma,” concluded Dr. Anderson.