Dad notices his screaming baby starts to overheat then he takes a look at her toe

It’s not unusual for babies to cry, scream and get fussy throughout the day. But when Scott Walker’s baby girl was in a fit while they had a family lunch, she started to overheat.
Walker describes on Facebook that his wife, Jess, took off her socks to help cool her down, but what they saw put them in utter shock.


A strand of hair had wrapped around one of her toes, cutting through her skin and constricted her normal blood flow. His wife, Jess, was able to quickly remove it with a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass.
He wrote on his Facebook page:

Had a small scare this afternoon with Ms. Molly. What happened was new to me, but apparently not totally uncommon, so I figured I'd share with my fellow parents out there.

I was with the family over lunch and Molly was cranky and screaming--nothing out of the ordinary. As worked up as she was getting, she started to overheat, which prompted Jess to remove her socks and cool her down. That's when we saw her toe. This is called a hair tourniquet, which is literally a strand of... hair that, while inside a sock, unexplainably wraps around a toe so tight that it can cut through the skin and potentially cut off blood circulation.

Luckily for Molly, she has a mother with medical emergency superpowers who was able to remove the hair with tweezers and a magnifying glass within a few minutes. This picture was taken about 45 minutes after the hair was removed. Unfortunately, the hair managed to cut all the way through Molly's skin, completely around her toe, but it could have been worse had it gone much longer untreated, or if the hair wasn't accessible.

The doctor told me, for future reference, to always check the toes if the baby is inconsolable. Just an FYI to any parents or care takers out there.

What happened to little Molly is known as hair tourniquet syndrome, which mostly occurs in babies younger than 4 months, commonly found around a finger or toe.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, HT syndrome is rare, but can be dangerous if left untreated. Doctors especially warn new parents that if they’re losing hair at a rapid rate, they should regularly check to ensure no hairs are accidentally entangling their babies’ fingers or toes.
Common symptoms include:

• Excessive crying that can’t be soothed
• Redness and swelling around the infected area
• Fever

In severe cases, it can even lead to infection or necrosis, better known as dead tissue and dead cells.
Doctors say HT syndrome can be prevented if you regularly change your babies’ clothes and pay attention to their hands and feet when giving them a bath.
If you notice any of the symptoms mentioned above, contact your doctor immediately.