Hijab Pins and Their Ingestion by Children :

The hijab is the head-covering traditionally worn by Muslim women. In securing the hijab as the last step of the wrapping process, stick pins, often decorative ones, are used. These hijab pins can be ingested – more commonly when they are left out on a table in reach of a young curious child but even when an adolescent or young adult woman is fastening the hijab and putting the pins inside their mouth prior to fastening. Yogev et al (10.1542/peds.2019-3472) review of 11 years of hijab pin ingestions (2007-2018) to patients under 25 years of age as compiled in the emergency department where the authors worked. The authors report on 208 ingestions involving 225 ingested pins. Interestingly, the mean patient age was 14.7 years and 88% of these ingestions occurred to females. The authors describe where the pins were when these pins eventually are recovered from. The stomach was the most common site of lodging for these pins. Having abdominal tenderness was associated with the pin being impaled requiring endoscopic removal. The good news is that all pins were removed either through endoscopy or safe passage with only one patient requiring surgery and no complications were observed. Not only is this an important potential foreign body to discuss with Muslim families, but the authors also provide photographs of what these pins look like (both inside and outside the body) and offer an approach to management of these pin ingestions. Link to this article and learn more.