Dad’s Viral Photo Of Baby’s Swollen Toe Raises Awareness About Hair Tourniquet Syndrome

When babies cry, there is a multitude of reasons running through the carer’s head. The baby may be hungry, has to have a diaper change, and the list just goes on. But when babies cry non-stop that nothing can seem to pacify them, it may signal something serious.

Take for example Molly Walker, a baby girl who just wouldn’t stop crying at a family lunch.

Her father Scott and mother Jess did everything they could to calm Molly, but she just won’t stop. Although Molly has been suffering from colic and reflux in the recent months, the parents felt that there is something else.

Little Molly

As Molly continued to be agitated, her body temperature shot up. Her parents decided to remove her clothing to cool her body down. After removing Molly’s socks, the parents finally discovered what may be the reason for their child’s unusual cries.

The parents discovered that Molly’s toe was severely inflamed!

Here is Scott’s Facebook post:

When Jess took a closer look, she discovered that there is a tiny piece of hair tied around Molly’s toes that had cut the blood circulation in that body part, causing pain. The same goes when a loose piece of thread comes off the socks and wraps around the toe.

While it may seem unusual, it actually is not. The condition is called toe-tourniquet or hair-tourniquet syndrome. If prolonged, the condition may lead to severe infections and loss of toe. The same thing happens to fingers and legs when wearing mittens and super tight skinny jeans, respectively.

Jess then used a magnifying glass and tweezers to remove the hair. Turns out, the hair has already cut through the skin. Fortunately, nothing serious happened and Molly calmed down afterwards.

The doctor said Molly is safe but warned that the situation could have gone worse if the hair was not detected or removed.

The condition may harm poor kids, and Scott and his family think it is but appropriate to let other parents know. He posted on Facebook about their experience to warn everyone about hair tourniquet syndrome.

Other parents have also experienced the same thing with their kids and have used social media to raise awareness.

The condition is not really popular among parents; hence, it is nice to see people exerting efforts to let people know. May this post help to save children and reduce cases of hair-tourniquet syndrome.

Please share this post with your family and friends as this might be helpful, especially to those who have little kids.