The surgeons at the SOS Mains at the Clinique de l’Union near Toulouse treat many injuries related to summer activities.
July is synonymous with festivities, especially around the 14th of July. Every year, many people organize barbecue evenings and sometimes some tricks to spice it up. But such a program can sometimes turn tragic. At the Clinique de l’Union, north of Toulouse, doctors who specialize in hand injuries treat dozens of patients daily with serious hand injuries at SOS Mains. This is the case of surgeon Pierre Crozet and five other practitioners. Like any other hospital, at Union Clinic, the emergency department operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When the patient presents, he is received by an organized nurse who, depending on the severity of the injury, directs him to the doctor or operating room. This summer with multiple strikes in the emergency services of public hospitals, renewed activity inside the emergency room of the clinic. But after this adjournment of patients, Dr. Pierre Crozet takes care of the wounded from various neighboring departments. “In fact, here we have a full service dedicated to the management of traumatic hand injuries. All emergency services have the possibility to treat but we are often called upon to manage patients with serious hand injuries because we have a full space and team dedicated to this type of operation.”
2300 operations per year
During the summer, the SOS Mains Center receives patients with typical summer injuries. Among the most common: deep wounds. “Many people when they organize barbecues come out with a big piece of meat. With blunt knives, they start chopping, and unfortunately sometimes it ends up badly. If the meat is frozen, the knife slips and it ends up in the hand,” he points out.
And they and his colleagues carry out about ten operations a day to repair the damage caused, that is, more than 2,300 a year. “For clean wounds such as large ones, it is often simpler and the recovery period is shorter,” the health professional specifies.
According to him, injuries related to the use of fireworks or homemade Bengal lights are still rare but do exist. “We call it ballistic damage, which means it’s the same as the result of being shot in the hand. The doctor explains again that there is a tissue burn associated with the blast and then a lot of damage to the tendons and fingers. In this type of lesions, it is often the work in the operating room more It is serious and requires hours of debridement, i.e. cleaning the wound and removing the damaged tissue.Sometimes the patient’s health is such that an amputation must be performed.For others, it takes more than a month to recover after going to the operating room.
This is why the surgeon of Toulouse wants to call on the population to be vigilant. “We shouldn’t play with this kind of trick and leave it within the reach of children let alone,” he insists. Moreover, apart from damage from a cut or exploding firecracker, in the summer, home accidents resulting from the use of gardening equipment such as chainsaws or even hedge trimmers are a big leg.
