Health Update: Hair not apparent

PARENTS should be on the look-out for hairs trapped inside baby suits. Dr Suzanne Hewitt of Derbyshire Royal Infirmary describes in the British Medical Journal the case of a four-month-old child brought into casualty with a red and swollen toe. A hair was found wrapped tightly around it, causing constriction. The toe recovered once the hair was removed.

Another report in the BMJ, from Southmead Hospital, Bristol, describes the case of a 61-year-old farmer who complained that his penis had been swollen for three weeks. Doctors found tightly wrapped around it the thickened rim of the base of a condom which had somehow remained when the rest was removed. The farmer had sexual intercourse a week before he noticed the swelling.