Barclay reports a rare case of ensnared aural foreign body in a lady, aged about forty years, who, while "picking" her left ear with a so-called "invisible hair-pin" several hours before the consultation, had heard a sudden "twang" in the ear, as if the hair-pin had broken. And so, indeed, it had; for on the instant she had attempted to jerk it quickly from the ear the sharp extremity of the inner portion of its lower prong sprang away from its fellow, penetrated the soft tissues of the floor of the external auditory canal, and remained imbedded there, the separated end of this prong only coming away in her grasp. Every attempt on her part to remove the hair-pin by traction on its projecting prong--she durst not force it INWARD for fear of wounding the drumhead--had served but to bury the point of the broken prong more deeply into the flesh of the canal, thereby increasing her suffering. Advised by her family physician not to delay, she forthwith sought advice and aid. On examination, it was found that the lower prong of the "invisible hair-pin" had broken at the outer end of its wavy portion, and seemed firmly imbedded in the floor of the auditory canal, now quite inflamed, at a point about one-third of its depth from the outlet of the canal. The loop or turn of the hair-pin was about 1/2 inch from the flaccid portion of the drumhead, and, together with the unbroken prong, it lay closely against the roof of the canal.
Projecting from the meatus there was enough of this prong to be easily grasped between one's thumb and finger. Removal of the hair-pin was effected by first inserting within the meatus a Gruber speculum, encircling the unbroken projecting prong, and then raising the end of the broken one with a long-shanked aural hook, when the hair-pin was readily withdrawn. The wound of the canal-floor promptly healed.
In the severest forms of scalp-injuries, such as avulsion of the scalp from the entangling of the hair in machinery, skin-grafting or replantation is of particular value. Ashhurst reports a case which he considers the severest case of scalp-wound that he had ever seen, followed by recovery. The patient was a girl of fifteen, an operative in a cotton-mill, who was caught by her hair between two rollers which were revolving in opposite directions; her scalp being thus, as it were, squeezed off from her head, forming a large horseshoe flap. The linear extent of the wound was 14 inches, the distance between the two extremities being but four inches. This large flap was thrown backward, like the lid of a box, the skull being denuded of its pericranium for the space of 2 1/2 by one inch in extent. The anterior temporal artery was divided and bled profusely, and when admitted to the hospital the patient was extremely depressed by shock and hemorrhage. A ligature was applied to the bleeding vessel, and after it had been gently but carefully cleansed the flap was replaced and held in place with gauze and collodion dressing. Alarge compress soaked in warm olive oil was then placed over the scalp, covered with oiled silk and with a recurrent bandage. Aconsiderable portion of the wound healed by adhesions, and the patient was discharged, cured, in fifty-four days. No exfoliation of bone occurred. Reverdin, a relative of the discoverer of transplantation of skin, reported the case of a girl of twenty-one whose entire scalp was detached by her hair being caught in machinery, leaving a wound measuring 35 cm. from the root of the nose to the nape of the neck, 28 cm. from one ear to the other, and 57 cm. in circumference. Grafts from the rabbit and dog failed, and the skin from the amputated stump of a boy was employed, and the patient was able to leave the hospital in seven months. Cowley speaks of a girl of fourteen whose hair was caught in the revolving shaft of a steam-engine, which resulted in the tearing off of her whole scalp. A triangular portion of the skin was hanging over her face, the apex of the ******** containing short hair, from which the long hair had been detached. Both ears were hanging down the neck, having been detached above. The right pinna was entire, and the upper half of the left pinna had disappeared. The whole of the head and back of the neck was denuded of skin. One of the temporal arteries was ligated, and the scalp cleansed and reapplied. The hanging ears and the skin of the forehead were successfully restored to their proper position. The patient had no bad symptoms and little pain, and the shock was slight. Where the periosteum had sloughed the bone was granulating, and at the time of the report skin-grafting was shortly to be tried.