II. Mechanism
- Skin (esp. penis) becomes entrapped in pants zipper
III. Management
- Consider Dorsal Penile Nerve Block
- Pretreatment with Mineral Oil (most effective single measure - effective in 95% of cases)
- Soak the entrapped skin of penis in Mineral Oil for 10-15 minutes prior to attempted procedure
- Entrapment within teeth of zipper (non-moving part) - effective in 80% of cases
- Cut horizontally across the zipper at a level above or below the entrapment
- Gently pull apart the teeth of the zipper
- Entrapment within sliding zipper part
- Identify the median bar of zipper (zipper diamond)
- Crossbar at sliding zipper opening
- Crossbar joins the anterior faceplate and the posterior faceplate of the sliding zipper
- This crossbar separates the two rows of zipper teeth
- Cut median bar of zipper
- Insert wire cutters or bone cutters between the anterior and posterior faceplates
- One cutting edge to either side of the median bar
- Cut the median bar, and the faceplates of the zipper should fall away
- Alternative: Flat head screw driver technique
- Insert flat head screwdriver between the two sliding zipper faceplates
- Rotate screwdriver 90 degrees to pry apart the two face plates
- Identify the median bar of zipper (zipper diamond)
IV. Resources
- Life in the Fastlane Blog
V. References
- Oquist (2016) Am J Emerg Med 35(5):783-4 +PMID:27836312 [PubMed]
- Herbert (2012) EM: Rap 2(9): 2
- Warrington (2024) Crit Dec Emerg Med 38(12): 19
Images: Related links to external sites (from Bing)
Related Studies
Concepts | Injury or Poisoning (T037) |
SnomedCT | 262924006 |
English | Zip fastener injury of penis (disorder), Zipper injury of penis (disorder), Zip fastener injury of penis, Zipper injury of penis |
Spanish | lesión del pene por cierre de cremallera (trastorno), lesión del pene por cierre de cremallera |