Data shows that several Americans have died from firework injuries, and more than thousands were injured last year.
Americans celebrated nationwide on July 4th
Americans enjoyed fireworks displays nationwide, from the National Mall in DC to the Las Vegas territory.
July 4th is not a celebration in the emergency room.
Every year, doctors cut off their fingers and hands with fireworks. They try to save their eyes. And sometimes they have to tell their loved one the worst news they can imagine.
It’s a warning from a doctor preparing for another busy Independence Day, and a cold, hard truth.
Dr. Nicholas Lee had already amputated the hands of two boys who lost them to firework injuries the week before July 4th. He hopes to see more next week.
“These are practically bombs people are holding their hands,” said Lee, a professor of clinical orthopedic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, who is directing the hand reconstruction program. “My hands and fingers are blown away, and I see gro caliber injuries, burns and damage to my face. I blew my eyelids out so that my kids can’t close their eyes.”
Dr. Jeffrey Goodrow said fireworks are legal and widely sold in most parts of the country, but they are dangerous and deserving attention and respect. He has already seen burns, tears and hand injuries from people who already had fireworks.
“They’re like the wounds of military combat,” said Goodrow, an emergency room doctor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who is also the vice president of communications at the American College of Emergency Medicine. “These are horrifying injuries. People don’t realize that even the public fireworks stuff their fingers and hands with enough punches to let them get away.”
According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 11 Americans died from firework injuries last year, with over 14,700 people being treated in emergency rooms.
In more than a third of cases, injuries suffered burns to the hands and fingers or head, face and ears.
It’s not just the big rockets that hurt people. Last year, there were estimated 1,700 emergency room injuries involving Sparkler alone.
Wrong movements can change a person’s life. And those people tend to be younger. Almost a quarter of injuries are among people between the ages of 15 and 24, mostly male. “I don’t remember having a woman before. It was always a young man,” Lee said.
“We are a urgent care physician at Washington University,” said Dr. Irvin Ahvan, emergency medical practitioner.
What are the most common fireworks injuries?
The most common injuries these doctors see are the hands.
“I have seen a lot of people who got into their hands while the fireworks were holding them.
The hands literally fall apart, Lee said. Joints, bones, ligaments and skin are destroyed or destroyed by an explosion. The most common number to lose is the thumb. “That’s 40% of your hand function,” he said.
“If that’s really bad, your hands look like starfish. Your fingers, thumbs, all your joints are dislocated and they’re just scattered,” Lee said.
“We try to save as many fingers as possible, and at least give you something to pinch,” he said. “But sometimes it requires cutting.”
Also, as people peer into the fireworks, they often get burns, tears and injuries to their faces. It’s not uncommon for people to lose their eyes.
“They’re not just about to be able to get into,” said Chelsea Beau, a hand and microvascular surgeon at Washington University in Seattle.
There are also gro caliber injuries if people are sitting while illuminating the device, or if they drop it and a blast is radiated towards them.
Some injuries can be found in the solid organs of the core or in the head. “There are people who try to launch them from the head or the chest,” Lee said.
For those who fire fireworks near the coastline and beaches, Lee has also seen injuries from the sand that was dumped by the strength of the explosion.
“The sand can be thousands of tiny projectiles. It can be embedded in your skin, your eyes, your face. It’s like getting a tattoo,” he said. “It’s hard to get out. You can’t make that many microincisions, so you often have to leave them.”
Fireworks Safety Tips
Doctors who spend thousands of hours trying to save their fingers, hands, eyes and other damage wishes will take a little time for people to think before touching fireworks.
“It’s gunpowder with fuses. They go away with incredible force and it passes right through the organization,” Beau said.
“Most of the time, it’s an unsupervised child. Or the ones that get together with friends are young men and boys,” she said. “They may not be drinking or using other substances. They may not be making the best decision.”
Here are some important tips:
- Don’t get illuminated fireworks
- Lighten the fireworks one at a time and then return immediately.
- Do not try to re-lit or pick up fireworks that have not left
- Do not use fireworks if alcohol or medication is causing problems
- If you or someone is injured in the explosion, call 911 immediately
The damage Lee saw in the operating room was terrible and unnecessary.
“It’s very devastating and these injuries are completely preventable,” he said. “I hope this (article) helps me at least alone in this way suffer.”
Can I pass my fingers over again?
In the film, a person may illuminate firecrackers and blow his fingers off beautifully. They stick it on an ice bucket and run to the hospital, which is all sewn together.
The reality is not so tolerant.
“Even a very skilled hand surgeon can replicate fingers in a very small number of cases,” Goodrow said.
Injuries are rarely clean and not clean, and the amount of damage in numbers is significant.
“The reality is that when your fingers are blown away, you lost them forever,” he said.
When will fireworks injuries occur?
Many injuries occur on July 4th, when they are extremely busy in the emergency room, two weeks before the holidays and two weeks before the emergency room.
“For a hand surgeon, this is our holiday in the worst possible way,” Bo said.
When July 4th happens near the weekend, it’s even worse than this year. Because people are more likely to make weekends, parties and drinks.
The University of Washington, a major trauma unit in the Seattle area, saw nearly 50 people who needed firework-related surgery in the four days later.
“We’re preparing a huge amount. We have an additional operating room so that we can have additional teams available. We’ll cancel the elective surgeries and make the additional anesthesia team available,” she said. “It’s like triing at a massive casualty event.”
