2023-11-11 07:30:00
It’s not just oysters that can lead to nasty cuts. Other foods like squash or avocados can lead to emergencies. Advice from specialist doctors on the right actions to adopt in the event of hand injuries.
Everyday gestures that are not so trivial. When we think of oysters, pumpkins of all kinds and other avocados, we first think of good meals. But from the kitchen to the emergency room, sometimes there’s just one move that goes wrong. The knife slips and that’s the wound.
As the squash season begins and the oyster season, for the end-of-year holidays, arrives, we asked hand specialist doctors what are the good reflexes to have in the event of a cut.
“It is true that the classic cases are rather injuries linked to the shucking of oysters at the end of the year, shellfish or even cutting avocados!”, indicates Doctor Philippe Pradel, hand and neck surgeon. senior member, at the SOS Main service of the Médipôle de Savoie and member of the European Federation of Hand Emergencies.
Whatever vegetable we cook, for Doctor Michaël Benassayag, the risk of domestic accidents is frequent, because we carry out tasks mechanically without paying attention to them.
“I remember a patient last year, who, while trying to cut a pumpkin, had placed her hand in the path of the knife. The blade had buried itself in her finger,” says Dr. Benassayag, also a surgeon in the department. SOS Main of the Médipôle de Savoie.
This seemingly minor injury (5 to 8 mm) required the patient to spend six weeks in a splint and six months of rehabilitation. The woman had severed a nerve, an artery and a tendon. During the operation, the surgeon had to carry out a suture under a microscope, “which allowed good recovery of the function of the hand”, despite a “reduction in sensitivity of the pulp of the finger”, explains the specialist.
To cut a squash safely, it is important to choose a clear work space and “above all to use the right gestures”, explains Dr Philippe Pradel. It is better to cut the squash in half in order to obtain more stability, “use a solid knife and remember to orient it towards the cutting board and not towards your hand”.
Recommendations that may seem obvious but are often overlooked. Enough to push Dr Benassayag to use educational photos as prevention, during Halloween for example.
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Despite all precautions, accidents quickly happened.
“The first thing to do is to clean the wound well by running your hand under tap water, then stop the bleeding by applying strong pressure,” insists Dr. Benassayag.
Once the first aid measures have been carried out, the surgeon recommends consulting a doctor or going directly to the nearest SOS Main service. If on the surface, a wound may appear benign, doctors warn of possible deeper lesions which remain invisible to the naked eye.
“The mistake that many people make is not consulting a health professional,” laments Dr. Benassayag.
“Quite often, following cutting themselves, most of them notice that they can move their hand, so they say to themselves that it’s okay! But when we carry out clinical examinations, we realize that there is partial damage to the nerves or tendons,” he adds.
An infectious risk
And that’s not the only danger. “Whatever cutting object is used, it is rarely clean,” underlines Doctor Houvet, surgeon at the French Hand Institute (IFCM). “The knife will therefore deposit bacteria at the bottom of the wound” and come out immediately, “without us being worried”.
However, the surgeon insists, the risk of infection is as great as possible damage to the nerves or tendons.
Doctors recommend systematically consulting a healthcare professional capable of assessing the severity of injuries and possible lesions present. Among the 150,000 hand injuries treated by FESUM (all profiles combined), the majority have serious injuries that can leave more or less serious following-effects.
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