The Aftermath

The club owners immediately rang an ambulance...

In the mean time, they were told:

• Don't try to remove the object. Doing so could cause further harm.

• If needed, control bleeding by pressing firmly around the object to bring the edges of the wound together and by raising the injury higher than the heart.

• Bandage the wound. First put a piece of gauze over the object. Then, if it helps, put clean padding around the object before binding the wound securely with a bandage or a piece of clean cloth. Take care not to press too hard on the object.

She then went to hospital where the damage would be assessed by one of these methods...

Epidemiology

The prevalence of glass foreign bodies in wounds from injury has been recorded in 1.5% in superficial (subcutaneous) wounds and 7.5% of deeper wounds  

Radiographic appearance

Plain film

Only ~10% of x-rays ordered for investigation of retained foreign bodies are positive (reflecting the low incidence post injury) but x-rays are excellent at detecting radiopaque foreign bodies with ~85% being detected

• glass is always radiopaque, independent of lead content or other additives
• should be visible on plain films if larger than 2mm 2, 5

Ultrasound

• can be used to further localise foreign bodies and define relationship with soft tissue structures and assess for further injuries
• appears hyperechoic with posterior shadowing and often demonstrates reverberation artifact
• if present for >24 hours may demonstrated a hypoechoic ring 3-4

They were able to remove the glass, and no serious damage was caused, but she will be left with a small scar that may eventually fade...

Web reference:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid/basics/art-20056604

http://radiopaedia.org/articles/glass-foreign-bodies

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