Evaluation of patients undergoing removal of glass fragments from hand injuries: A retrospective study

The hand is the body part most frequently injured by broken glass. Glass fragments lodged in soft tissues may result in numerous complications,such as infection, delayed healing, persistent pain, and late injury as a result of migration. Between 2005 and 2010, we removed 46 glass particles from the hands of 26 patients. The injuries were caused for the following reasons:by car windows broken during motor vehicle accidents in 11 patients (42%); by fragments from broken glasses, dishes, or bottles in 9 (35%); by the hand passing through glass in 5 (19%); and by a fragment from a broken fluorescent lamp in 1 (4%) patient. Despite the efficacy of plain radiographs in detecting glass fragments, they are sometimes not obtained. Given the relatively low cost, accessibility, and efficacy of radiographs, and the adverseconsequences of retained foreign bodies, the threshold for obtaining radiographs should be low in diagnosing glass-related injuries of the hand.