Burn specialists from Britain shared shocking images of frostbites due to the mishandling of nitrous oxide canisters. Many of those who suffered from burns were teens using hippy crack.
Hippy Crack Causes Frostbite
Teenagers adore the substance, sometimes known as "laughing gas" or "nos."In parks and streets all around the UK, there are empty canisters containing it.
To enjoy a fleeting sense of relaxation and ecstasy, users inhale the gas straight from more giant dispensers or release it into balloons from these silver canisters, DailyMail reported.
However, when first changing to gas, nitrous oxide, which is held as a liquid, rapidly cools to sub-freezing temperatures as low as -88.5C (-127.3F). Some have discovered that this can cause some innocent victims to suffer from frostbite.
While filling balloons, several people held the hippy crack dispensers between their thighs, suffering severe burns from the super-cold canister. With the canisters in their hands, other people have sustained injuries.
Teenagers who inhaled directly from the cans developed frostbite in their mouths. Sixteen persons who visited Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford in 2022 for frostbite injuries brought on by using hippie crack were treated by surgeons from St Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns.
The average age of the patients, whose youngest was 15, was 22. Seven were men, and the rest were women.
According to the researchers, Eleven of the patients sustained injuries due to holding a nitrous oxide canister between their legs. Eight of them had frostbite burns on their inner thighs on both sides.
Chen's team urged public health interventions to alert people to the possibility of frostbite from consuming nitrous gas.
What You Need To Know About Frostbite
Dr. Jacky Chen, the report's lead author, stated that some injuries required approximately 100 days to recover. He further added that frostbite often leaves young people with permanent scars.
The optimum treatment for these injuries is surgical management, but he noted that young children frequently experience unattractive scarring due to these accidents.
The usage of nitrous oxide caused frostbite in the hands of four other individuals, while one patient's oral skin was harmed.
The authors also noted that, on average, patients waited five days or more to visit an A&E to treat their frostbite, with the highest delay being 22 days.
This was true even though some of them had necrosis, a condition in which tissue dies.
The authors added that the risk of frostbite from the hippy crack was not widely known.
Doctors are getting increasingly worried about how utilizing laughing gas may affect their patients' health. The drug, which has legal applications in the food business and as an anesthetic, can cause memory loss, disorientation, and weakness in the legs when used heavily and frequently for recreational purposes.
About 40% of users reported experiencing adverse effects like anemia, cognitive decline, and recurrent headaches.
If people inhale highly concentrated forms of the gas, it can cause them to faint or suffocate due to a lack of oxygen to the brain.
It can also result in memory loss, limb spasms, incontinence, and a compromised immune system.
Numerous brain and spinal cord networks are affected, as doctors have already cautioned. Nitrous oxide can cause vitamin B12 deficiency, leading to neurological issues like paralysis.
The study was published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery.
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