Foot Skin Ischemic Necrosis following Heel Prick in a Newborn

Abstract EN

There are only a few reports on side effects after heel prick in neonates although heel prick has been performed all over the world for many years.

The medicine staff had obtained only a drop of blood by pricking the baby’s heel using a lancet without compressing the heel or foot to measure his blood glucose level 3 hours after birth.

However he developed a severe and hemorrhagic skin reaction on his entire left foot, beginning 30 minutes after obtaining the drop of blood by pricking the baby’s heel using a lancet.

The lesion, which was treated with topical mupirocin and povidone-iodine solution daily, slowly decreased in size and had almost fully resolved within 3 weeks.

He was healthy and 9 months old at the time of writing this paper.

We herein report a case of foot skin ischemic necrosis following heel prick in a newborn.

To our knowledge this patient is the first case of foot skin ischemic necrosis due to heel prick in newborns.