A Florida mom has taken to social media to warn other parents about a little-known condition called Hair Tourniquet Syndrome.
Mom-of-four Jill Mraidi, 46, shared a picture of her four-month-old son's red and swollen toes.
Speaking to Good Morning America, the mother spoke about the moment she first realized something was wrong. Mraidi said: "I was like, 'What the heck is going on? What is this?
"I had him scheduled for a checkup that day. Once I got him there, the doctor looked at it. It was called hair tourniquet syndrome."
The syndrome is caused by a single strand of hair wrapping itself tightly around a person's (usually an infant) extremities - most commonly the fingers, toes, or genitals.
Mraidi told GMA that she had never heard of hair tourniquet syndrome, despite previously working as a child protection investigator.
After snapping a picture of son Qasim's foot, the mother shared it to an Instagram page called Pregnancy Guide so she could warn its 350,000+ members of the condition.
Alongside a photo of Qasim's foot, she wrote:
"PSA: This is Qasim's 4-month-old foot. It was caused by a single strand of hair. Its official name is Hair Tourniquet Syndrome. He is my 4th child and I had never heard of such a thing until today.
"He was seen by his Pediatrician last week, there was nothing there, he was evaluated by his Physical Therapist 3 days ago, there was nothing there. I bathed him yesterday and I didn't see anything abnormal. Then today, I noticed the indentation in his toes and found a small piece of hair but figured no way it could be from that, so I disregarded it.
"I called right away for him to see the Pediatrician and within 2 hours he was being seen. When the Dr told me it was caused by I piece of hair, I was in disbelief. He told me how very lucky we are to catch it so soon because it often results in immediate amputation of the affected appendage.
"It's most common in infants because of the post-Partum hair loss of the mother. Light-colored hair is extremely difficult to identify and surgeons often need microscopes to even see it. If you have infants or toddlers in the house, please keep this in mind!!!"
As well as receiving over 10,000 'likes' in four days, the post also received over 1,000 comments, some from parents who have also sadly experienced hair tourniquet syndrome with their own children:
Per the US National Library of Medicine toe tourniquets, in particular, are rare and dangerous but it's a perfectly preventable condition of infants.
Speaking to GMA, Dr. Alexander Davit, a pediatric hand surgeon at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said that in the most extreme cases, the hair can cut off blood supply and the child is at risk for amputation.
Davit added: "It can look terrible but if you treat it, it's OK.
"Despite it being an intimidating thing to worry about, in many cases the child won't need surgery."
