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Metal lawn and garden edging: the hidden knife?
1Emergency Department, The Children's Hospital, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA. rittichier.kristine@hsc.utah.edu
Insights
Metal lawn edging causes severe lacerations in children, often requiring complex repair and subspecialty care. This landscaping tool poses a significant, previously unrecognized risk in suburban areas.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Wound Care
- Injury Prevention
Background:
- Lacerations are common pediatric emergency department visits.
- Metal lawn edging is a prevalent landscaping tool in residential areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe laceration severity from metal lawn edging in children.
- To characterize wound repair and subspecialty consultation needs.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective chart review of pediatric patients (<18 years).
- Data collected from three metropolitan emergency departments (January 1995 - October 1997).
Main Results:
- 126 patients (76% male, median age 9 years) were analyzed.
- Most frequent laceration sites: foot (40%) and knee (26%).
- Median laceration length was 3 cm; 13% received antibiotics, 5% orthopedic evaluation.
Conclusions:
- Metal lawn edging presents an unrecognized laceration hazard to children.
- Some injuries are extensive, necessitating multi-layer closure or subspecialty consultation.
Objective:
Lacerations account for many visits to the pediatric emergency department. We observed children presenting to local emergency departments in a large metropolitan area with lacerations incurred from metal lawn and garden edging, a landscaping tool. We sought to describe the severity of lacerations caused by metal edging, the characteristics of wound repair, and the need for subspecialty consultation.
Design:
A retrospective chart review including all pediatric patients (< 18 years) presenting with lacerations caused by metal lawn and garden edging from January 1995 to October 1997 was performed. Patients were seen at one of three emergency departments in Colorado.
Results:
One hundred twenty-six patients were enrolled (76% male, 24% female), with a median age of 9 years. The most frequent location of laceration was the foot (40%), followed by the knee (26%). The median length of laceration was 3 cm (range 1-22 cm). Sixteen patients (13%) received either intravenous or oral antibiotics, and six patients (5%) received orthopedic evaluation.
Conclusions:
Metal lawn and garden edging in landscaped neighborhoods presents a previously undescribed laceration danger to children. Some lacerations sustained from the metal lawn edging are extensive, receiving either multiple layer closure and/or the need for subspecialty consultation.
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