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NBC News
17-07-2025
- Health
- NBC News
The best plastic-free food storage containers for meal prep and more
I used plastic food containers for most of my life — they're affordable and accessible at most of the grocery stores I frequent. But, in recent years I've learned more about the potential dangers plastic food containers and microplastics pose to my health and the environment. Leaching, which is the process of microplastic getting into food, is one of many reasons I recently turned to non-plastic food containers and cooking utensils. Harmful chemicals from some plastic food storage containers, like bisphenol A (BPA), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and phthalates, can get into our food, especially when heated, according to Tracey Woodruff, an associate professor of reproductive sciences at the University of California San Francisco. 'There are a lot of different chemicals that are used in the making of plastic or that are in plastic-related materials and these chemicals can leach from the plastic into people's food,' says Woodruff. These chemicals can lead to an increased risk of infertility, reproductive health, cardiovascular disease and more, according to Woodruff. Additionally, researchers have found microplastics in several parts of the human body, including blood and the brain, according to Woodruff. With this in mind, I spoke with experts about how to find a good plastic alternative and what you should look for. How I picked the best plastic-free food container The main factor in deciding the best alternatives to plastic food containers is finding a material that doesn't leach and is safe to put in the microwave and dishwasher. Here's everything our experts recommend I keep in mind when making this list: Alternative materials: The best and most common non-toxic alternative to traditional plastic is glass, according to Woodruff. Unlike plastic, glass food containers aren't susceptible to leaching microplastics, making them safer to heat up, eat out of and prepare food in. Most of the food containers on this list are made of borosilicate glass, which is highly resistant to heat, thermal shock and cracking (though not shatterproof). Additionally, I also curated options that have ceramic coatings, which makes them stain resistant and nonstick, as well as containers made from stainless steel. While every container on this list is made from either glass or stainless steel, some of the included lids are made of BPA-free plastic and/or come with a silicone lining to prevent leaking, so some of the sets aren't entirely plastic free. BPA and PFAS free: BPA and PFAS (sometimes called 'forever chemicals') are molecular chemical additives found in microplastics that some manufacturers use to give plastic durability, heat, oil and stain resistance, according to Paul Anastas, a professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Green Chemistry at Yale University's School of the Environment. As I mentioned above, chemicals found in microplastics are linked to an increased risk of adverse reproductive health issues in both men and women, lung and colon cancer, metabolic abnormalities, birth defects and more, according to Woodruff. With this in mind, I only included plastic food container alternatives that explicitly mention being BPA and PFAS free and/or 100% plastic free. Use case: In making this list, I tried to find non-plastic food container options that you can use for a variety of purposes, including microwaving, baking, freezing and putting in the dishwasher. While not every option on this list is compatible for all four methods, most of them are dishwasher safe and microwave safe. I noted which purposes each one is best suited for. Want more from NBC Select? Sign up for our newsletter, The Selection, and shop smarter. The best alternatives to plastic food containers All of the products below are either direct recommendations from NBC Select editors and/or have at least a 4-star average rating from 500 reviews or more on Amazon. 100% plastic-free food containers All of the food containers below are entirely plastic free, including the lids. I tested and reviewed Anyday's microwavable cookware bowls, which are available in multiple sizes and are similar to this set of frosted borosilicate glass containers designed specifically for food storage, instead of cooking (though they're also oven- and microwave-safe, too.) You'll get two 2-cup rounded dishes and two 2.5-cup square dishes. The dishes, including the lids, are entirely plastic free, according to the brand, and you can also microwave and bake with the lids, which have vents on top that act as a handle. This set from Urban Green has a 4.1-star average rating from 2,031 reviews on Amazon and comes with five containers: a 0.5-cup, 1.5-cup, 2.6-cup, 3.8-cup and 6.25-cup. They're entirely plastic free, according to the brand — the containers are made of heat-safe borosilicate glass and the lids are bamboo. They're safe to use in the microwave and oven (without the lids) and they're dishwasher and freezer safe, too, according to the brand. These wraps are made of beeswax, organic cotton, plant oil and tree resin, according to the brand, making them entirely plastic and silicone free. These wraps have a 4.5-star average rating from 10,862 reviews on Amazon and they work in the same way you'd use plastic wrap or aluminum foil, except they're reusable. The set includes a small, medium and large wrap, which are best for using with solid foods, like sandwiches, loaves of bread and produce. You can also use the wrap as a lid for a bowl with salad. That said, the wraps aren't suitable for heating and you can only wash them with cold water, according to the brand. Mostly plastic-free food containers All of the food containers below are plastic free, however some of the lids or accessories have BPA-free plastic. This popular set from Caraway comes recommended by NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin, who loves how well they seal. 'I've used these containers for over a year almost every day,' she says. 'They're super sturdy and don't stain, even when I use them to store pasta with red sauce or curry made with turmeric.' It's made of glass and coated in ceramic, similar to the brand's cookware. The 9-piece set, includes one large 10-cup square container, ideal for prepping multiple servings of food, two medium, rectangle 6.6-cup containers for individual meals, two small 4.4-cup containers for salads or sides, two small rectangular inserts with a 9-ounce capacity for snacks and two small square inserts with a 4-ounce capacity, compatible for dips and dressings. The set also comes with storage racks you attach to the inside of your cabinet and straps that hold the lid and container together. NBC Select editor Mili Godio got this set of glass food containers as a wedding gift and says she can't 'ever go back' to her usual plastic Tupperware. 'They're super durable and stack really nicely on top of each other,' she says. The set comes with 10 containers of different sizes, so there's one to fit practically anything you need. The lids seal well and protect from spills, too, according to Godio. This set of glass food containers comes recommended by NBC Select reporter Harry Rabinwotiz, who likes the many shapes and sizes included in the set and that the lids seal securely. Plus, the containers themselves are durable and can handle high heat and travel without cracking. 'I don't worry about throwing them in my backpack, in the sink with other pots and dishes, or in the oven and microwave,' says Rabinowitz. The set includes one large 6.3-cup container, two 3.5-cup containers and one 1.6-cup container in both round and square shapes. I've had this glass set for about two months and I love everything about them. While the lids have plastic on them that isn't oven safe, the containers themselves are extremely durable — I've baked multiple foods in them (rice, poultry and pasta) all at once in the oven around 400 degrees and they don't have a single crack. Plus, I baked them with the silicone cover on the bottom (to protect them from damage) and it didn't melt at all. The lids snap closed and don't spill, especially when I've used them for foods with sauce. I've also put both the container and lid in the dishwasher and they've fared well and don't have any damage, even when I use hot water. Since the lids have plastic, I make sure not to microwave or bake with them on. These food containers are made of stainless steel and have food-grade silicone lids. The set has a 4.7-star average rating from 39 reviews at Klean Kanteen and includes a 1.25-cup, 2.8-cup and 6.8-cup container. The smaller containers fit on the inside of the largest container, so you can keep food separated, similar to a bento box, or simply use the largest one as is. Unlike many stainless steel food containers, this set is microwave- and oven-safe since its texture prevents sparking or arcing, according to Klean Kanteen. Aside from the removable divider, the containers are entirely plastic free, according to the brand. This small insulated container is ideal for warm foods since its stainless steel body helps maintain heat. With that said, it isn't microwave safe. It has a 4.2-star average rating from 2,334 reviews on Amazon and its lid has a top handle, which twists to lock and prevent spills. While it's best for warm food, you can still use it to store things like salad and vegetables. How to shop for plastic food container alternatives Many plastic food container sets have chemical additives (many of which companies aren't required to disclose) with adverse health effects. This includes BPA, phthalates and PFAS — and those are only the handful of ones researchers know about, according to Woodruff. The easiest way to avoid leaching consequences is to simply avoid plastic food containers altogether. Here's how to find the best plastic-free container: Choose a material Glass is arguably the best material to look for as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic food containers, according to experts. To a lesser extent, stainless steel containers can also be a reliable option. Glass allows for versatility since it's usually oven-, microwave- and dishwasher-safe, and isn't susceptible to leaching like plastic. Stainless steel doesn't always have these features, though it isn't susceptible to breaking or cracking and it often allows food to stay warm for longer. Also, many glass food storage containers have plastic lids, even if they're free of BPA, PFAS and other chemicals. Use case If you plan on only using storage containers to prepare food — whether it be on the stove or in the oven — and then transfer food to them, then they don't need to be oven- or microwave-safe. If you don't want to have to dirty more dishes or transfer the food to a plate for reheating, then you should make sure that whatever you buy is microwave or oven safe. If you're someone who likes to meal prep and then freeze food, be sure to purchase something that's freezer compatible. Recycle In addition to buying new containers, Woodruff also recommends reusing store-bought glass containers, like those for condiments or sauces, to store food (not necessarily heat it), similar to how you would a mason jar. Doing this can help you save money and it reduces your single-use plastic consumption. Meet our experts At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest. Why trust NBC Select? I'm a commerce editor at NBC Select, where I frequently write about home and kitchen topics. I also have a decade of experience writing about food. I spoke with two experts in chemistry and reproductive sciences for this story and included NBC Select-staff favorites for plastic-free food storage options.
Time Magazine
08-07-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
The $20 Million Bet on CRISPR to Cure Rare Childhood Diseases
Rare genetic diseases are challenging for patients and their families—made all the more overwhelming because symptoms tend to appear soon after birth. To date, there haven't been many reliable treatment options for these babies. The few that do exist involve invasive and risky procedures that don't often have a high rate of success. But there is a new source of hope for many of these families: the Center for Pediatric CRISPR Cures at the University of California San Francisco. The center—plans for which were announced July 8—is a collaboration between Jennifer Doudna, director of the Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley who also earned the Nobel Prize for her work in co-discovering the gene-editing technique CRISPR, and Dr. Priscilla Chan, co-CEO and co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Supported by $20 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the center focuses on treating rare genetic diseases in children, starting with a group of eight kids who will enroll in a clinical trial to access a CRISPR therapy designed specifically for them. Doctors and researchers, including Chan and Doudna, believe that CRISPR can be used to change and correct a range of genetic mutations and scaled up to help more patients. And the medical teams plan to start enrolling patients immediately. "We want to ensure that CRISPR-based therapies become widely available, especially for rare diseases that likely won't be the target for pharmaceutical companies," Doudna tells TIME. Read More: The 4 Words That Drive Your Doctor Up the Wall The partnership was inspired by the recent success in treating KJ Muldoon, the first baby to receive a customized CRISPR treatment. KJ was born at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with a rare genetic disease that prevents him from breaking down proteins properly. The therapy, called base-editing, replaced a faulty letter in KJ's DNA with the correct one that now lets him eat some protein. KJ's treatment represents the next phase of CRISPR-based therapies. While CRISPR treatments have been approved by the FDA to treat sickle cell disease and certain types of beta thalassemia, those therapies involve removing cells from patients, editing them with CRISPR to correct the genetic defect, and then infusing those cells back to the patients. In KJ's case, the CRISPR editing occurred in his own body, via three injections of a therapy developed just for him. That's the same model that the new center will use. 'With that story, there was a lot of momentum within our teams about whether we could do that again, and how we could learn from this to create a pipeline to reduce cost and make this therapy much more widely available,' Doudna says. Doudna thought of Chan, whose initiative has the mission of curing, preventing, or treating all diseases by the end of the century. It was an ideal match, since Chan had trained as a pediatrician at the University of California San Francisco and spent eight years treating children with rare genetic diseases after finishing medical school. 'When Jennifer called me, I thought, 'This is perfect,'' Chan tells TIME. She recalls encountering families whose babies were affected by diseases so rare that there was often little, if any, information about them. 'I have seared in my mind the image of a parent handing me a PDF that they carried around to explain to each resident that this is what we have, and this is all that we know about it. I carry that around daily.' The experience inspired her to create the Rare As One program at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a network of patients, researchers, and scientists from different disciplines that highlights the need for basic research needed to better understand these conditions in order to develop more effective treatments for them. Read More: The Surprising Reason Rural Hospitals Are Closing CRISPR, with its ability to target specific genetic mutations, holds the most promise for changing the course of such diseases. But time is of the essence. In KJ's case, the entire process of identifying his mutation, developing the treatment, testing it, and receiving FDA clearance took nine months. KJ was just six months old when he received his first CRISPR treatment. Acting that quickly is critical for conditions like these, since once cells or organs are damaged by disease-causing mutations, they can't always be rescued. The idea is to intervene with a CRISPR therapy to minimize the effects that the mutations could have. Currently, about 6,000 rare diseases affect 300 million people worldwide, and 72% of them are linked to genetic aberrations. A similar proportion primarily affect children. The new center will focus on identifying disease-causing mutations that can easily be targeted—such as in the liver, as in KJ's case. 'Jennifer and her team, and the team at UCSF, will be very careful in choosing mutations that are amenable to this treatment,' says Chan. 'Not all mutations will work well with this version of there will be a delicate balance in choosing patients who stand to benefit the most in this situation.' Patients will join a clinical trial to receive the treatment, and the research team will study them to learn from their experiences and continue to improve the treatment and the process. Read More: Why It's So Hard to Have Your Fertility Tested In the first cases that the center will try to treat, the FDA will consider each treatment on its own and decide whether to approve the customized therapy for that particular patient. But, says Doudna, 'as we continue to get more information on the safety and potential risks of CRISPR for different indications, what is emerging is the potential to designate CRISPR as a platform technology.' That means that if regulators approve the framework of the CRISPR gene-editing process, doctors would not need to conduct animal tests for each new CRISPR therapy designed for a patient. The only thing that would change would be the guide RNA, Doudna says, which carries the genetic instructions for finding the specific mutation that needs to be addressed. 'Even there, most of the guide RNA stays the same, and it's just the piece at the end providing the molecular zip code that changes.' Key to making that happen will be advances in other scientific areas, including using AI to predict how changing specific genes will affect a cell's function and what potential health outcomes a CRISPR-based treatment might have. That work is ongoing separately at places like Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and elsewhere, says Chan. Eventually, says Doudna, 'we hope as the process moves forward, it will be possible to both predict clinical outcomes of CRISPR therapies accurately and ensure that by changing just a little part of the guide RNA, everything else will remain the same, so you don't have to do full-blown animal testing for every single iteration of CRISPR. If that becomes possible, then it will make CRISPR a lot cheaper and a lot faster to test these kinds of therapies.' That would make it available for many more patients as well.
Hindustan Times
07-07-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
NHS surgeon suggests easy ways to add 30 g fibre in your daily diet with fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes and more
Are you looking for ways to increase fibre intake in your body? According to the University of California San Francisco, the American Heart Association Eating Plan suggests eating a variety of food fibre sources, with total dietary fibre intake being at 25 to 30 grams a day from food, not supplements. Fibre-rich foods help with many gut issues, from bloating to constipation.(Shutterstock Representative image) Also Read | Gastroenterologist shares 8 foods that can lower the risk of colon cancer: From watermelon, kiwi to yoghurt In a post shared on July 5, Dr Karan Rajan, an NHS surgeon and health educator, shares easy ways to add 5 grams of fibre to your daily diet through various sources like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and other food items. So, the total would come up to 25-30 grams. Let's find out what they are: Easy ways to add 5 g of fibre Sharing the list of food items, Dr Rajan wrote, ' easy way! No need for Peruvian vine leaves or ancient Sicilian grains to get your dose of fibre.' Dr Rajan divided the food items into the categories: 'fruits, veggies, seeds, legumes, and others'. He mentioned the quantity of each food item you need to consume to complete a 5 g fibre intake. Let's find out what the NHS surgeon suggested: Fruits 2 kiwis 80 g raspberries 1 pear 1.5 oranges 1 avocado 8 dried prunes Vegetables 2 carrots 1 whole corn 5 sticks of asparagus 150 g of broccoli 1 sweet potato 80 g of peas Nuts 50 g of hazelnuts 45 g of pistachios 40 g of almonds 65 g of walnuts 50 g of pecans 50 g of peanuts Seeds 1 tbsp of chia seeds 1 tbsp of flax seeds 2 tbsp of shredded coconut 1 tbsp of psyllium husk 1 tbsp of hemp seeds Legumes 2 tbsp of hummus 80 g of edamame beans 75 g of cooked beans 75 g of lentils 80 g of butter beans 2 tbsp of chickpeas Others 35 g of popcorn 50 g of dark rye bread 1 tbsp of cacao 100 g of seeded sourdough 50 g of dark chocolate Why is fibre important? According to the Mayo Clinic, fibre may be best known for its ability to prevent or relieve constipation. But foods with fibre can have other good effects as well, including staying at a healthy weight and lowering the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. Per a report on Harvard Health, fibre controls blood sugar, as fibre-rich foods keep blood sugar levels steady instead of causing them to spike. As for protecting our heart health, fibre protects against heart disease in a number of ways, from fighting inflammation to helping keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check. Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
USA Today
03-07-2025
- Health
- USA Today
A predictable day of 'horrific injuries': Doctors dread the Fourth of July
Data shows several Americans died from fireworks injuries and more than thousands were injured last year. USA TODAY Show Caption The Fourth of July is anything but celebratory in the Emergency Room. Every year, doctors amputate fingers and hands damaged by fireworks. They try to save eyes. And sometimes they have to deliver the worst news imaginable to loved ones. That's the warning – and the cold hard truth – from doctors who are bracing for another busy Independence Day. Dr. Nicolas Lee had already amputated the hands of two boys who lost them to firework injuries the week before Fourth of July. He expects to see many more in the coming week. "These are effectively bombs people are holding in their hands," said Lee, a professor of clinical orthopedic surgery at the University of California San Francisco who directs a hand reconstruction program. "We see hands and fingers blown off, groin injuries, facial burns and damage. I've had kids blow off their eyelids so they can't close their eyes." Even though fireworks are legal in much of the nation and sold widely, they are dangerous and deserve care and respect, said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe. He's already seen burns, lacerations and hand injuries from people holding fireworks. "They're like military battle wounds," said Goodloe, an emergency room physician in Tulsa, Oklahoma who's also vice president for communication for the American College of Emergency Physicians. "These are horrific injuries. People just don't realize that even publicly available fireworks pack enough punch to rip a finger or a hand off." Last year, 11 Americans died from fireworks injuries and more than 14,700 were treated in emergency rooms, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. In more than one-third of cases, the injuries were burns to the hands and fingers or head, face and ears. It's not just big rockets that hurt people. Last year, there were an estimated 1,700 emergency room injuries that only involved sparklers. One wrong move can change a person's life – and those people tend to be young. Almost a quarter of injuries are among people between 15- and 24-years-old and most are men. "I don't remember ever having a woman, it's always been young men," said Lee. 'We're going to see a lot of people who completely changed their lives because they made one simple, bad decision and now either they've lost a hand, they've lost their eyes, they've lost another appendage, or worse,' said Dr. Arvin Akhavan, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Washington. What are the most common firework injuries? The most common injury these doctors see is to the hands. "I've seen a number of people where the firework went off in their hand while they were holding it. Either they didn't have time to set it down or they were thinking they were going to aim it. But it blew up," said Goodloe. The hand literally blows apart, said Lee. The joints, bones, ligaments and skin are disrupted or destroyed by the blast. The most common digit to lose is the thumb. "That's 40% of your hand function," he said. "If it's really bad, the hand looks like a starfish. The fingers, the thumb, all the joints are dislocated and it just splays out," Lee said. "We try to save as many fingers as we can, we try to at least give you something to pinch with," he said. "But sometimes it requires amputation." There are also often facial burns, lacerations and injuries as people peer at fireworks. It's not uncommon for people to lose an eye. "I would love to show you actual photos of what happens, but it's too gruesome," said Chelsea Boe, a hand and microvascular surgeon at the University of Washington in Seattle. There are also groin injuries, if people are either sitting while they're lighting the device, or if they drop it and the blast radiates up towards them. Some injuries are to the solid organs in the core or to the head. "There are people who try to launch them off the top of their head or their chest," Lee said. For people setting off fireworks near shorelines or beaches, Lee has also seen injuries from sand that's cast up by the strength of the explosion. "The sand becomes thousands of little projectiles. It can get embedded in your skin, in your eyes, in your face. It's like getting a tattoo," he said. "It's hard to get out – you can't make that many micro incisions. So often you just have to leave it in." Fireworks safety tips The doctors who spend thousands of hours trying to save fingers, hands, eyes and other damage wish – fervently – that people would take a moment to think before they touch fireworks. "It's gunpowder with a fuse. They go off with unbelievable force and it goes right through the tissues," said Boe. "A lot of time, it's unsupervised kids. Or it's young men and boys who get together with their friends," she said. "They may or may not be drinking or using other substances. They may not be making the best decisions." Here's a few important tips: Never hold a lit firework in your hands Light fireworks one-at-a-time and then move back quickly Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not gone off Never use fireworks when impaired by alcohol or drugs If you or someone is injured in an explosion, call 911 immediately The damage Lee sees in the operating room is awful – and unnecessary. "It's so devastating and these injuries are entirely preventable," he said. "I hope this (article) can help at least one person from suffering this way." Can fingers be re-attached? In the movies, a person might light a firecracker and blow off a finger cleanly. They stick it in a bucket of ice, race off to the hospital, and it all gets sewn back together. Reality is not so forgiving. "In very few cases, even with a very skilled hand surgeon, are you going to be able to reimplant a finger," said Goodloe. The injuries are rarely clean and neat and the amount of damage to the digit is considerable. "The reality is that when your finger gets blown off, you've permanently lost your finger," he said. When do firework injuries occur? While many injuries occur on the actual Fourth of July, the two weeks before the holiday and the two weeks after are very busy in emergency rooms, as people start to play with fireworks they've purchased or want to set off fireworks they had leftover from the holiday. "For hand surgeons, this is our holiday in the worst possible way," said Boe. It's even worse when the Fourth of July happens near a weekend, as it does this year, because people are more likely to make a weekend of it – and to party and drink. At the University of Washington, which is the main trauma unit for the Seattle region, they saw close to 50 people who required firework injury-related surgery in the four days after the Fourth. "We do a huge amount of preparation. We have extra teams available, extra operating rooms. We cancel elective surgeries, we try to have extra anesthesia teams available," she said. "It's almost like we're triaging for a mass casualty event."
USA Today
03-07-2025
- Health
- USA Today
A predictable day of 'horrific injuries': Doctors dread the Fourth of July
Data shows several Americans died from fireworks injuries and more than thousands were injured last year. The Fourth of July is anything but celebratory in the Emergency Room. Every year, doctors amputate fingers and hands damaged by fireworks. They try to save eyes. And sometimes they have to deliver the worst news imaginable to loved ones. That's the warning – and the cold hard truth – from doctors who are bracing for another busy Independence Day. Dr. Nicolas Lee had already amputated the hands of two boys who lost them to firework injuries the week before Fourth of July. He expects to see many more in the coming week. "These are effectively bombs people are holding in their hands," said Lee, a professor of clinical orthopedic surgery at the University of California San Francisco who directs a hand reconstruction program. "We see hands and fingers blown off, groin injuries, facial burns and damage. I've had kids blow off their eyelids so they can't close their eyes." Even though fireworks are legal in much of the nation and sold widely, they are dangerous and deserve care and respect, said Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe. He's already seen burns, lacerations and hand injuries from people holding fireworks. "They're like military battle wounds," said Goodloe, an emergency room physician in Tulsa, Oklahoma who's also vice president for communication for the American College of Emergency Physicians. "These are horrific injuries. People just don't realize that even publicly available fireworks pack enough punch to rip a finger or a hand off." Last year, 11 Americans died from fireworks injuries and more than 14,700 were treated in emergency rooms, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. In more than one-third of cases, the injuries were burns to the hands and fingers or head, face and ears. It's not just big rockets that hurt people. Last year, there were an estimated 1,700 emergency room injuries that only involved sparklers. One wrong move can change a person's life – and those people tend to be young. Almost a quarter of injuries are among people between 15- and 24-years-old and most are men. "I don't remember ever having a woman, it's always been young men," said Lee. 'We're going to see a lot of people who completely changed their lives because they made one simple, bad decision and now either they've lost a hand, they've lost their eyes, they've lost another appendage, or worse,' said Dr. Arvin Akhavan, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Washington. What are the most common firework injuries? The most common injury these doctors see is to the hands. "I've seen a number of people where the firework went off in their hand while they were holding it. Either they didn't have time to set it down or they were thinking they were going to aim it. But it blew up," said Goodloe. The hand literally blows apart, said Lee. The joints, bones, ligaments and skin are disrupted or destroyed by the blast. The most common digit to lose is the thumb. "That's 40% of your hand function," he said. "If it's really bad, the hand looks like a starfish. The fingers, the thumb, all the joints are dislocated and it just splays out," Lee said. "We try to save as many fingers as we can, we try to at least give you something to pinch with," he said. "But sometimes it requires amputation." There are also often facial burns, lacerations and injuries as people peer at fireworks. It's not uncommon for people to lose an eye. "I would love to show you actual photos of what happens, but it's too gruesome," said Chelsea Boe, a hand and microvascular surgeon at the University of Washington in Seattle. There are also groin injuries, if people are either sitting while they're lighting the device, or if they drop it and the blast radiates up towards them. Some injuries are to the solid organs in the core or to the head. "There are people who try to launch them off the top of their head or their chest," Lee said. For people setting off fireworks near shorelines or beaches, Lee has also seen injuries from sand that's cast up by the strength of the explosion. "The sand becomes thousands of little projectiles. It can get embedded in your skin, in your eyes, in your face. It's like getting a tattoo," he said. "It's hard to get out – you can't make that many micro incisions. So often you just have to leave it in." Fireworks safety tips The doctors who spend thousands of hours trying to save fingers, hands, eyes and other damage wish – fervently – that people would take a moment to think before they touch fireworks. "It's gunpowder with a fuse. They go off with unbelievable force and it goes right through the tissues," said Boe. "A lot of time, it's unsupervised kids. Or it's young men and boys who get together with their friends," she said. "They may or may not be drinking or using other substances. They may not be making the best decisions." Here's a few important tips: The damage Lee sees in the operating room is awful – and unnecessary. "It's so devastating and these injuries are entirely preventable," he said. "I hope this (article) can help at least one person from suffering this way." Can fingers be re-attached? In the movies, a person might light a firecracker and blow off a finger cleanly. They stick it in a bucket of ice, race off to the hospital, and it all gets sewn back together. Reality is not so forgiving. "In very few cases, even with a very skilled hand surgeon, are you going to be able to reimplant a finger," said Goodloe. The injuries are rarely clean and neat and the amount of damage to the digit is considerable. "The reality is that when your finger gets blown off, you've permanently lost your finger," he said. When do firework injuries occur? While many injuries occur on the actual Fourth of July, the two weeks before the holiday and the two weeks after are very busy in emergency rooms, as people start to play with fireworks they've purchased or want to set off fireworks they had leftover from the holiday. "For hand surgeons, this is our holiday in the worst possible way," said Boe. It's even worse when the Fourth of July happens near a weekend, as it does this year, because people are more likely to make a weekend of it – and to party and drink. At the University of Washington, which is the main trauma unit for the Seattle region, they saw close to 50 people who required firework injury-related surgery in the four days after the Fourth. "We do a huge amount of preparation. We have extra teams available, extra operating rooms. We cancel elective surgeries, we try to have extra anesthesia teams available," she said. "It's almost like we're triaging for a mass casualty event."
