Injuries caused by entrapment of penis skin by the teeth of a zipper or the zipper mechanism occur commonly in pre-adolescent males. During the process of zipping or unzipping, redundant skin of the penile shaft or foreskin can be caught in both the teeth of the zipper and the zipper slider. When the penis skin becomes entrapped in the teeth and slider of a zipper, a common recommendation is to cut the bar on the zipper slider with a bone or wire cutter to separate the 2 faceplates and thereby release the entrapped skin. There are a number of small case reports that describe success with this method, and most emergency medicine, pediatric, and pediatric emergency medicine reference and procedure textbooks recommend this method. However, is the recommendation to cut the bar that holds together the faceplates of the zipper slider actually realistic, and is it the best method available for removing zippers? Is it an easily accomplished task, or is this a commonly perpetuated myth? After 1 more unsuccessful attempt at releasing the penis skin from the zipper mechanism using the median bar cutting technique, I undertook a review of the available literature on this subject (Fig. 1).
展开▼
