Healthcare professionals regularly share new and fascinating cases to Figure 1. Here are five of the most interesting medical cases of fireworks injuries causing buzz in the community.
#5.
This imaging is following a firework injury obtained from a “large mortar style firework”. According to the EMT who shared the case, the patient had tried to hold onto the firework as it fired.
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#4.
A pediatrician shared the following details of this firework injury case: “4 yo playing with older brothers who were setting off fireworks. Leaned in close to look and it went off. 2 cm x 2 cm piece of flesh missing and unable to approximate wound edges. Plastics consulted, sent home (after irrigation) with wet to dry dressing changes and later surgical repair.”
#3.
In this third most interesting medical case of a firework injury, a homemade firework in a glass bottle exploded in the patient’s hand before they had time to throw it. The dentist who shared this case included these details: “Complex facial lac with herniated parotid gland, through and through ear [laceration]. No facial nerve deficit.”
The community commended the repair work and one commenter asked how long the surgery took. The dentist shared that the reconstruction took “roughly 90 minutes. Had to clean out debris and glass, close parotid, along with 15 deeps and 52 skin sutures”.
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#2.
In this case, the force of this firework injury was so strong, that part of the patient’s finger bone went into a bystander’s leg. According to the EMT who shared the case, the patient was then airlifted to the nearest trauma hospital two hours away, “Pt was having respiratory issues because the firework blew up near his face also so the safest thing for pt was to go directly to the trauma hospital from the scene. Had he gone to a local hospital there would have been a major delay in proper care.”
#1.
A paramedic shared what they encountered after arriving to the scene of a firework injury: “Heavy arterial bleeding on arrival controlled with [bleeding control kit]. Vitals stable, two 16G IVs placed in non-injured extremity, pain management and fluids given en route to trauma center”.
In a follow up, the paramedic shared with the community that unfortunately, the hand was not salvageable.
Published June 17, 2024
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