The key facts

  • A two-centimeter mirror shard remained in the teenager's palm for about two months
  • The fragment was located next to the vessels, nerves and flexor tendons of the hand
  • The teenager was discharged the next day, and full mobility of the hand was restored

A shard of mirror remained in a teenager's palm for two months

At the Ramenskoye Hospital in the Moscow region, surgeons removed a two-centimeter shard of mirror from a teenager's palm, where it had been lodged in the tissue for about two months. This was reported to Life.ru by the Moscow Region Ministry of Health. According to the ministry, the teenager cut himself while sorting through the pieces of a broken mirror: he washed the wound himself, stopped the bleeding and applied a bandage, but did not seek medical help. About a month later, he began to feel sharp pain during certain hand movements, and eventually a non-healing wound, swelling and severe pain forced him to go to the hospital.

Surgery and recovery

An ultrasound of the soft tissues revealed a large foreign body. Due to the inflammation and the shard's proximity to important structures of the hand, the doctors decided to operate. «A capsule had already formed around the foreign body. It periodically became inflamed and restricted the movement of the fingers. Through a small incision, we carefully removed the large shard,» said Vladimir Khabalov, head of the pediatric surgery department at the Ramenskoye Hospital. According to him, the manipulations were performed with extreme care to avoid damaging the vessels and the flexor tendons of the hand, and the surgery was necessary to prevent irreversible consequences. The very next day, the teenager was discharged in satisfactory condition, and full mobility of the hand was restored. Doctors reminded that in case of serious cuts, one should seek medical help immediately.

A similar case in Moscow

Life.ru also recalls a recent case in Moscow: surgeons restored the sight of a boy who had hidden his eye injury for two months. A metal shard damaged several structures of the eye and lodged in the retina; the doctors had to remove the clouded lens, extract the fragment and implant an artificial lens.