A periodical increase in hand injuries: The sacrifice feast

Objective: As an Islamic ritual, every year during the celebration of the Sacrifice Feast, animals, like cows, sheep or goats, are sacrificed and their meat donated to poor people. In this study, we present the cases of hand injuries that occurred during the Sacrifice Feast, along with their corresponding etiological and demographic information, and evaluate the surgical management of these hand injuries.Methods: 62 patients, who were referred to the Hand Surgery Division of our Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Department from the emergency room between 15-18 October 2013 and 04-07 October 2014, were included in our study. A total of 62 patients were classified and evaluated according to age, gender, etiology, date of injury, hand lateralization, injury type, level of injury and type of anesthesia. Results: All 14 female patients (100%) were injured by knives. A total of 7 of 13 pediatric patients (53,8%) were injured from meat grinders. Thirteen patients were injured by cleavers; all of them (100%) were male and were injured on the first day of the feast. A total of 47 of 62 patients (75,8%) and 45 of 48 male patients (93,7%) were injured on the 1st day of the feast. A total of 12 of 14 female patients (85,7%) were injured on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days of the feast. A total of 39 of 62 patients (62,9%) injured their nondominant hands. Isolated tendon injuries were the most common injury type (29%).Conclusion: Although festivals are celebrated with much enthusiasm, carelessness or neglect may lead to undesirable results. Keeping children away from danger should be made a top priority during Sacrifice Feasts. In addition, not only should precautions be more intensively emphasized by the written and visual media, but special regulations should be implemented involving the transporting of amputated limbs. Furthermore, in some regions, many people, who are inexperienced butchers, sacrifice animals themselves, leading to numerous hand injuries. Consequently, in order to reduce the number of these hand injuries, animals should only be sacrificed by professionals. [Hand Microsurg 2015; 4(2.000): 28-31