Citation

Palmanovich E, Brin YS, Laver L, Kish B, Nyska M. Foot (Edinb) 2013; 23(1): 50-52.

Affiliation

Orthopedics Department, Meir Medical Center, Affiliated to Sacker School of Medicine Tel Aviv University, Kfar Saba, Israel. Electronic address: ezequiel.palmanovich@clalit.org.il.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.foot.2012.12.005

PMID

23415763

Abstract

Corals are marine animals that live in compact colonies. They secret calcium carbonate to form a skeletal structure. Coral sting or abrasions usually cause erythema and localized pain with a mild local toxic reaction. We describe a large boney injury in the hallux due to retained coral fragments in a young patient who sustained a mild injury during water sports in the Red Sea. The coral fragment was not removed during the first visit to ER, causing chronic local inflammation and ultimately a large boney injury. Vigorous localized debridement must be performed in all marine injuries to remove all possible fragments that can lead to irreversible local boney injury.

Language: en