BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

An estimated 7.3 million lacerations are seen in emergency departments and other clinics in the United States every year. Approximately 800,000 of these are scalp lacerations. Currently, the most common methods for closing scalp lacerations are sutures and staples. However, both these approaches require local anesthetics, are painful for the patient, and often require a follow-up visit for their removal. There is a less common known technique for closure of a scalp laceration that is non-invasive and requires no anesthetics and no follow-up visit. This method is known as the hair apposition technique (HAT). The hair apposition technique utilizes the patient's own hair to close the wound. Although the HAT overcomes some of the drawbacks of sutures and staples, the HAT can be difficult and time consuming for medical professionals since it can be hard to grasp and pull clusters of hair across the wound. There is therefore a need for a device which grabs and pulls hair across a wound to simplify the HAT.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

One aspect of the present disclosure includes a hair grasping device having a handle with hollow fingers, a trigger slidably attached to the handle, a number of grips slidably attached within the hollow fingers connected to the trigger. Each of the grips has a first and a second arm, a central post, and an extended position and retracted position. When in the retracted position, the arms are forced against the central post by the hollow fingers, and when in the extended position, the arms are forced away from the central post, creating a clearance between the arms and the central post.

Another aspect of the present disclosure includes a hair grasping device with a handle having a hollow fingers, a trigger slidably attached to the handle, a number of grips each within the hollow fingers and operably attached to the trigger. The grips have first and second arms, an extended position, and a retracted position. When the grips are in the retracted position, the arms are urged against each other by the hollow fingers, and when the grips are in the extended position, the arms are urged away from each other, creating a clearance between the first arm and the second arm.

Another aspect of the present disclosure includes a method of grabbing and pulling hair away from an area of skin with a laceration, including capturing hair between a pair of arms of a grip while the pair of arms are in an open position, sliding the pair of arms into an internal opening within a hollow finger of a hair grasping device by sliding a trigger on a handle on the hair grasping device from a released position to a grasping position, ensnaring the hair by urging the pair of arms to a closed position by retracting the pair of arms within the hollow finger, and holding the amount or hair by exerting a pinching force on the arms by the internal opening.

These and other aspects, objects, and features of the present disclosure will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon studying the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.

