Girl, 14, suffered frostbite burns after inhaling laughing gas
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A 14-year-old girl had to be resuscitated and suffered extensive frostbite after inhaling laughing gas, a study has revealed.
The teenager suffered 4% total body surface area frostbite burns to her inner thighs. She sought medical care two days after sustaining contact burns to her inner thighs from direct contact with a frozen nitrous oxide cylinder (N2O), which is also known as hippy crack.
A diagnosis of toxic shock syndrome as a result of infected burn wounds was made and she was admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit.
She was resuscitated and treated with intravenous antibiotics and immunoglobulin. The areas where she suffered frostbite were fully healed by day 21. However, a follow-up medical consultation at six months found the teenager had significant scarring and contour deformity to her inner thighs.
Recreational use of inhaled laughing gas is causing frostbite to faces and other parts of the body due to mishandling of the dangerous substance which can result in deformities and skin grafting treatment.
Seven cases analysed in the study in this month’s show that the injuries all occurred to those aged 14 to 23 with injuries occurring to lips, chins, forearms, hands, fingers, and thighs over six months from September 2022 to March 2023.
The popularity of N2O as a recreational drug can be attributed to the fact that it is cheap, readily available, and undetectable on routine drug screening, according to the study co-authors.
Recreational users tend to obtain N2O in small silver canisters known as ‘whippets’ or ‘silver bullets’, which are attached to a palm-sized ‘nitrous cracker’ to fill a balloon, from which the gas is inhaled.
It can also be obtained from larger-capacity canisters, by inhalation of the gas via plastic bags or face masks connected directly to screw-on nozzles.
Headaches, fatigue, myalgia, sleep disturbance, and issues with concentration can occur from happy gas use but additionally, the study authors found an increasing number of young people suffering from frostbite injuries.
The study authors from the Department of Plastic Surgery, Children’s Health Ireland in Crumlin point out that the lack of public awareness of frostbite injury, particularly in association with laughing gas inhalation, can contribute to both delayed presentation and inappropriate first aid.
Nitrous oxide use in Ireland is not currently captured in the National Drugs and Drug Use Survey, an observation which has been echoed by international researchers.