Weird and Wild: Back Piercing and Langers’ Lines

​A patient presented to the emergency department with a request to remove her back ring. Yes, that's right, her back ring. We were a bit confused at first by the piercing. The stud was placed in her back with no obvious way of removal. Our original thought was to send the patient to dermatology or even plastic surgery. The piercing certainly didn't qualify for emergency surgery or removal.​​​A 23-year-old woman with a back piercing in the left lower back. The underlying skin condition is not infectious. This is a classic example of tinea versicolor, and is not related to the piercing. It is a common fungal infection that causes small, discolored patches on the skin. Photo by Martha Roberts.EMTALA only requires you to give patients a medical screening exam, and once deemed stable, they can be discharged appropriately. We are suggesting, however, that you consider completing certain nonemergent procedures in the ED if they are reasonable and will not cause harm. Providers often tell patients, "This is not an emergency," and "We don't do that here." This may be true in many respects for good reasons, but it doesn't mean you can't choose to do something you feel you're able to complete. A piercing removal is not always an emergency, but ED providers are capable of quickly removing them and fixing the patient's presenting problem.​The ProcedureThis technique is probably unknown to most providers. You must make a laceration to expose the underlying bar...
Source: The Procedural Pause - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs