People are apparently awful at removing their own pubic hair. Maybe because it’s so hard to get a good angle for a decent view down there? Whatever the case, a new study shows that the number of pubic hair grooming-related emergency room visits have increased five times over between 2002 and 2010.
The study is based on an analysis of ER visits conducted by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco. People—both men and women—who botched their shaving or at-home waxing kits showed up at hospitals with cuts, burns, gashes, and rashes among things. There wer 2500 such injuries in 2010 alone.
Shaving razors were the culprit in 83 percent of the injuries, with cuts being most common result. Scissors were used in nearly 22 percent of injuries, and hot wax led to 1.4 percent of the harm.
SCISSORS!? NO! Ouch. And cringe.
The mean age of the patients was 31, although 29 percent of the injuries occurred in girls younger than 18. The smallest percentage occurred in boys under 18, but when they did hurt themselves, they did so in a blaze of glory—or a blaze of haze, like the 17-year-old boy got stoned and decided it was a good idea to put a razor near his genitals.
While there are both pros and cons to pubic hair removal, it’s probably best if it’s left to the professionals.
Image via Jiri Hera/Shutterstock
Ow! Pubic hair grooming injuries on the rise, researchers find [MSNBC]