'Zip-related genital injuries' send 1,700 men to ER each year

By Brian Alexander
NBC News
updated 3/19/2013 6:17:25 PM ET

I thought it was just me. But according to a study published this month in the British Journal of Urology International by a University of California San Francisco urology resident named Herman Singh Bagga, an estimated 17,616 people wound up in U.S. emergency rooms between 2002 and 2012 because they caught their genitals, almost always penises, in zippers.

If you’re giggling right now, you’ve never done it.

And you’ve probably done it. Zipper injuries are the single most common cause of penile injury in adult men reporting to emergency rooms, Bagga explained in an interview, followed by bicycles. (In small boys, the most common cause of penile injury is a toilet seat slamming down when the child is urinating – “you’d be surprised how many little boys rest their penises on the rim,” Bagga said -- followed by zippers.)

OK, so it’s a little funny in a Three Stooges kind of way, but a careless zip of the pants can be serious. While permanent damage is rare, Bagga said, zipper entrapment has led to surgical intervention such as undesired circumcision. A more common consequence is infection.

Lots of bacteria can be found in that area, and if the skin breaks, “it’s important once you get it out from the zipper that it’s washed well, and you use a little antibiotic ointment. Keep an eye on it. That’s another reason to solicit medical attention.” In his study, which used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, Bagga and his co-authors found 11 cases of penile cellulitis (a bacterial skin infection) or abscesses.

Read more:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51248766/ns/he...r/#.UUmgNVs4XcQ

How stupid or drunk do you have to be to have this happen? These Low Info voter types should regulate themselves to elastic banded old man pants. I would say they should stick to button flies, but I doubt they would be able to handle that either.

My wife once told me that childbirth is the most excruciating pain a human can experience and live to tell about it.

I won't argue with that, but the topic of this article has to be a very close second.

Quote: Justme wrote in post #4

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So sometimes stupid does hurt

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To be fair, most such injuries are context related. For example in a situation where there is an excited condition and a need to get dressed in a hurry; such as when caught by the lady's husband.....

Quote: Heisenberg wrote in post #5

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Clearly we need a Federal Agency and training centers across the nation.

ZSA

Zipper Safety Administration.

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