Carve Pumpkins — Not Your Hands — This Halloween
Don’t let slippery gourds and sharp knives sideline your holiday fun
The only thing scary about creating a jack-o'-lantern should be the finished product, not the risk of nicks, jabs or worse from your carving tools. Unfortunately, ER and urgent care docs see far too many injuries — from flesh wounds to severed nerves — each October.
“A majority of pumpkin carving injuries are the result of
extremely sharp tools and poor technique,” says Jack Cornwell MD, medical
director for
CareWell
Urgent Care
in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. “When inexperience is
coupled with slippery cutting tools, the result is often very painful.”
A momentary lapse in control can have
long-lasting effects. “Even a small cut can be deep enough to cause injury to
underlying tendons and nerves,” says Kathleen E. McKeon, MD, an orthopedic
surgeon who specializes in the hand, wrist and upper extremities at
Andrews
Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center
in Birmingham, Alabama.
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While you can’t completely eliminate the risk short of
forgoing your festive decorating plans, you can reduce it significantly if you
follow the doctors’ orders.
Set yourself up for
safety. Clear off a sturdy table or countertop and line it with
newspaper. Be sure the pumpkin’s surface and your hands are bone-dry before you
touch a cutting instrument. “Wet tools or surfaces cause the carver to slip and
injure themselves,” Cornwell says. Keep paper towels on hand should anything
become damp or slippery. “You should always be able to keep a firm grasp on
your pumpkin and your tool handle,” he says. “And please do not use sharp
knives while drinking alcohol,” McKeon adds.
Leave conventional knives in their block. It’s worth the investment in one of those specially designed pumpkin-carving kits, which have tools designed for the job. “They provide a safe and efficient means of creating beautiful works of art in a manner that is easier to control and less likely to get stuck in the pumpkin,” Cornwell says, citing findings published in the Journal of Preventative Medicine that these tools cause fewer and less severe injuries than serrated or standard kitchen knives.
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Consider your technique.
Never cut into the pumpkin toward your fingers — always cut away from them.
Consider carving your design first and gutting your pumpkin second, so you’re
not tempted to place a hand inside as you make cuts to the surface. “Take your
time while carving, don't rush,” McKeon says. “Injuries often happen when a
sharp knife slips or gives way unexpectedly.”
Give kids non-carving jobs. Even plastic carving tools may prove too risky for children. Let them draw the design onto the pumpkin surface or scoop out the guts. Leave the cutting for the more dexterous adults, suggests Cornwell. And this doesn’t just go for the little ones. A study published in the journal Pediatrics found kids ages 10 to 14 were the most accident-prone when it came to Halloween injuries.
Brush up on your first aid.
Should a slip-up occur, immediately clean the wound and apply pressure to stave
off the bleeding. For minor wounds, bleeding should stop within five to 10
minutes, at which point you should apply a dressing. If the bleeding is profuse
for 15 minutes or still hasn’t stopped after an hour, see a doctor. Regardless
of the wound size, “If you have a patch of numbness or can't move your finger
normally after a cut, you should seek medical attention,” McKeon says.
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