Hi Bob
Well here in the Sunny South West (OK it's raining today but hey) urchin
stings are perhaps more commonplace than in Deepest Yorkshire. Here's
what I've done before and then found out along the way...
There are two types of sea urchin injury:
1 The spine penetrates the skin and delivers venom there and then.
The main thing to do then is remove the spine at the time (ensuring no
allergy is developing) and wash it well. If spines are left in for a
few days they go soft and care is needed on removal as they can break
off in the dermis and sub-cut. tissues. LA is sometimes needed if there
is a lot of pain upon palpation prior to removing them. Some spines are
rough and need a bit of gentle persuasion to come out.
Belated removal of the spine is still advisable since patients can
develop allergy later on to urchin stings and also spines often lead to
infection if not removed.
2 Organs called Pedicellariea (I know, I can hardly believe I am
so knowledgable about the Starfish phylum either ;-))can sting even if
they break off the urchin. The same goes here for removal - the sooner
the better as these organs are fragile and can leave fragments in the
skin
It sounds like the first type of urchin injury to me so just make sure
you get all the bits out, clean the area, ensure asepsis and possible
prophylactic ABx and Bob's your uncle er I mean Podiatrist...*groan*.
If the patient doesn't have an infection the treatment is
straightforward.
Cheers for now
Emma
Emma Cowley
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Health and Social Work
University of Plymouth
01752 233213
-----Original Message-----
From: A group for the academic discussion of current issues in podiatry
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Longworth
Sent: 17 September 2004 12:59
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Sea urchin foot injury
With the current theme of exotic destinations in mind.....
I've got a patient in next week who stood on a sea urchin whilst on
holiday
in Greece. I haven't seen her yet but she seems to think there are still
spines in the foot that now have callus formation over them.
Any advice?
cheers
Bob
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