Photo: Scott Walker/Facebook
WICHITA, Kan. - A Kansas father has a warning for other parents, especially those with babies.
Scott Walker shared an alarming picture of his infant daughter's foot on Facebook. He said Molly, who was born in September, was getting worked up one afternoon and began to overheat. His wife, Jessica, removed Molly's socks to help her cool down and that's when they noticed her toe.
"This is called a hair tourniquet, which is literally a strand of hair that, while inside a sock, unexplainably wraps around a toe so tight that it can cut through the skin and potentially cut off blood circulation," Walker wrote.
According to Medscape, most cases of hair tourniquet syndrome occur in young children 4-days to 19-months-old. It's common in infants and many parents aren't aware of it.
"Luckily for Molly, she has a mother with medical emergency superpowers who was able to remove the hair with tweezers and a magnifying glass within a few minutes," Walker said.
The picture, which has been shared more than 21,500 times, was taken about 45 minutes after the tiny hair was removed.
"Unfortunately, the hair managed to cut all the way through Molly's skin, completely around her toe, but it could have been worse had it gone much longer untreated, or if the hair wasn't accessible."
Walker is warning other parents to always check the toes, especially if your baby is "inconsolable."
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