Episode 8 Operation Ouch!

He's Dr Chris.

And he's Dr Xand. Yep, we're twins.

Your body is amazing and we're going to prove it.

THEY SCREAM Here we go!

We'll push our bodies to extremes,

show how the strangest of injuries get fixed...

I've got a poorly finger.

Uncover the secrets behind the most amazing bodies...

and experiment on each other,

to show you just how your body works.

HE LAUGHS Oh, no!

Coming up today...

On Operation Ouch!

What's this woman going to do with this box?

Xand joins paramedics at the scene of an emergency.

And I make Chris drink his own wee.

-What?

-HE CHUCKLES

But first...

What started off as a normal day for our first patient

has ended up with a trip to Accident and Emergency.

Luckily they've come to the right place.

BOTH: Phe-ew!

At Royal Manchester's Children's Hospital

there's a new admission. Eight-year-old Charlie.

I've got a big hole in my head.

Right, that explains the big plaster, then!

I've got a new bike and it's fast and I crashed.

I think we need the details, don't you?

Charlie was outside with his twin brother.

I thought we were the only twins on this show!

Afraid not, Xand.

So they were trying a few tricks on their brand new bikes.

But what's missing from this picture?

-Helmets?

-You've got it.

Anyway, they spotted a staircase and came up with a cunning plan.

-Ooh, traffic lights!

-On your marks, get set...

-They're not, are they?

-..and go!

That looks dangerous!

Yes, and not surprisingly,

Charlie lost control and went flying.

Jumbo Jet, parachutist and a bird.

Crikey, this is a long way down!

And he landed, whacking his head on some railings.

Ouch!

It was like rain dripping, but in blood.

Ew! Let's check out that holey head.

Enter Dr Omar Amin.

Now then, young man, can you tell me what happened to you today?

I was playing outside on my bike and my handlebars turned

and made me crash into this metal fence.

-Oh, dear.

-And I banged my head.

-How's your bike?

-It's good.

Is it still in one piece?

Hang on, this isn't a bike hospital!

Let's get a look at that hole.

Prepare yourself, everyone.

Eurgh! Yeah, it's a big 'un!

It's gone quite deep, hasn't it?

It's gone really deep.

I'd say so.

It's about one and a half centimetres long

but it's really, really deep

and it's gone right down to his bone,

and if you open up the cut, you can actually see down to his skull.

To show you what Dr Omar is talking about,

there's some gross blood coming up.

If you're squeamish, look away for one second now.

OK, all clear!

Charlie's forehead is made up of five layers of skin and tissue.

The hole in his head goes through all of that to his skull.

And did you know when you're born,

your skull is made up of 44 separate bony elements,

but as you grow, many of them join up to make solid bones,

like the frontal bone,

and that's what we can see in Charlie's injury.

What I propose we do is give it a good wash and a clean,

Make sure there's not going to be any infection there,

and then what we'll do is pop some stitches in.

Before the stitching can start,

Nurse Louise applies anaesthetic gel to numb Charlie's cut...

-There we go. All done.

-Thank you.

You're very, very welcome, sweetie.

..and leaves it to work its magic.

We have to get your head fixed, don't we?

-You could be a model one day, couldn't you?

-No!

-Why? What do you want to be?

-A cycler.

You're not being a cycler!

Yeah, nice try, Charlie,

but I think Mum's going to take a bit of convincing!

Anyway let's leave that anaesthetic to numb your head

and we'll be back later to see how you're getting on.

Ouch!

And now to our lab where we put our bodies to the test

to show you how your body works.

Ow, that really hurt!

Just don't try anything like this at home.

Today we're looking at our wee.

Where have you been?

I've been for a pee. This is my urine.

It's light yellow and it doesn't smell much.

That's cos I've drunk lots of water, but Chris hasn't.

No, I haven't drunk lots of water and this is my urine.

It's dark coloured, it's strong smelling,

and it really hurt to pee and that's cos I'm dehydrated.

But what is wee?

Well, it's made by your kidneys.

Everyday they work hard to get rid of waste products called toxins

and hold on to water that's needed to make your body work.

Your wee is the mixture of those waste toxins and any leftover water.

Now we've got an experiment where we're going to separate

the water from the toxins in Chris's urine.

And then Chris is going to drink it!

What?

This may seem like a terrible idea,

but Chris won't actually be drinking wee.

He'll be drinking pure water extracted from it.

So as we heat the urine,

the water vapour is evaporating and boiling off here

and then being cooled by the liquid in this tube

and then just dripping out there.

Right now your kidneys are busy

separating out water from waste toxins.

Only they don't need all this kit. They just do it naturally.

It's amazing, isn't it? In just this tiny distance

you go from disgusting, undrinkable urine,

just along this tube and into clear, refreshing, delicious water.

I mean, that is amazing, isn't it?

And if that was water your kidneys separated out,

it would now be distributed to all your organs and muscles

to keep them working properly.

Doesn't smell like water.

Eurgh! No, it doesn't!

You're still going to have to drink it, though.

You told everyone you would.

I didn't say to anyone I was going to drink it!

Well, I'm not going to drink it! It's not my urine.

Fine, I will drink it.

DRUM ROLL

HE GIGGLES

I can't believe he drank it!

Actually, it smells bad but it doesn't taste bad.

Which I'm very happy about.

Without water, your body wouldn't work

and you can help your kidneys

do the best job they can

just by drinking plenty of water every day.

If you're weeing regularly and it's light in colour,

you'll know you're helping your body.

Ouch!

If you're in need of medical help, fast...

There are teams of paramedics near you ready to assist.

We're going on call with the UK's emergency services,

heading into the thick of the action to help save lives.

I'm heading out in this rapid response vehicle

to show you more about the life-saving work these paramedics do.

This fast medical service is on standby 24 hours a day,

ready to help you in an emergency.

On call with me today

is paramedic, Jan Vann.

And a new call has just come in.

We're on a call to a 66-year-old man who's apparently fighting for breath.

There's obviously lots of reasons why you could be short of breath.

Could be his lungs or his heart,

he could have an infection, could be heart failure.

All sorts of different things.

We arrive on the scene and Jan has got us there fast,

in just three and a half minutes.

Our patient is called James. He's struggling for breath,

so Jan gets to work quickly.

Let's have a quick look at your oxygen levels

and I'm going to listen to your chest.

You sound pretty quiet in there.

She said the chest is quiet, which you might think is good.

In fact, that means there isn't much air getting in.

Normally we can hear the air rushing in and out

so that his chest is quiet isn't good.

The other thing is she's put a monitor on him,

which is looking at the levels of oxygen in his blood.

That should normally be between 95 and 100%.

At the moment it's 85%.

So that's significantly less than we'd expect.

Now it looks like he's breathing smoke.

What he's actually got is oxygen that's bubbling through a drug.

It's called a nebuliser. It's designed to open up his airways.

It's commonly used for people with asthma.

Helps them breathe much better.

Did it just come on when you woke up this morning?

Oh, really?

With James having had difficulty breathing for a couple of days,

it's really important to find the cause.

What Jan is doing is measuring what's called his peak flow.

That's how fast he can breathe air out of his lungs.

Brilliant.

What that tells us is how much resistance there is to his breathing.

-That helping at all with the breathing?

-Yeah.

It is? Good.

Although the nebuliser is helping James to breathe easier,

he'll need further tests to find out why this keeps happening.

so an ambulance crew arrive to take him to hospital.

That nebuliser's worked a treat. It's worked straight away.

You see a big effect with a nebuliser?

Yeah. The thing is with breathing problems

it can go wrong quite quickly. They can deteriorate really quickly.

So the sooner they go into hospital, then the better.

As James leaves in the ambulance,

we get ready for the next call out.

With rapid response teams like this all over the UK,

it means that expert medical care

can be with you in minutes of a serious emergency.

Still to come....

A spot!

I find out more about the body's largest organ, the skin.

We show you a trick to amaze your friends with

And discover why I'm staying well away from that snake.

Now, did you know there are up to 400 joints in your body?

They sit between your bones, and without them,

you'd only be able to move your eyebrows and your tongue.

That's amazing! And so's this.

An ordinary warehouse full of boxes.

I can see that, Chris.

And this is a clear plastic box.

Again, I can see that. But what's it doing here?

-And who's this?

-You'll see.

She's hiding an amazing body skill.

She's very bendy.

She is, indeed, and you're about to find out what she can do.

Now you'll notice she's a lot bigger than that box.

Ooh, is she going to...no, she's not is she?

Yes, she is.

This is Delia Du Sol and she's a contortionist.

A professional acrobatic performer

who's trained herself to fit into unbelievably small spaces.

So how does Delia's amazing body do this?

Well, inside Delia's limbs she has super stretchy ligaments.

That's the soft tissue that holds our bones together.

Although she was born this way, Delia trains hard every day

to make sure her ligaments remain flexible

but this isn't something to try at home.

It's fine to practise flexible moves at home

but, erm, I wouldn't recommend

squeezing yourself into small spaces.

That's because if you get it wrong

you can get stuck and seriously injure yourself.

There are very few people in the world

able to bend their bodies this way.

It takes years of training to achieve a body skill like this.

Now that's amazing!

Ouch!

It's not amazing, Xand.

Let's head back to the Emergency department

to see what the latest is with our patient.

In Manchester, eight-year-old Charlie is in hospital

with a hole in his head.

Charlie was out riding his bike with his twin brother

when they had an idea for a race.

Only it was down some stairs and they weren't wearing any helmets.

They set off, bumpety-bumpety bump,

when all of a sudden, Charlie lost his grip

-and went flying through the air...

-Ooh, mind the bird!

..whacking his head on some railings.

It was like rain dripping but in blood.

The wound has been numbed with gel

and now it's time to fix that head.

But before the stitching can begin,

the team need to make Charlie comfortable.

What we're going to do is put some magic gas on

and it makes you feel a little bit woozy.

The gas Charlie is breathing in

is known as laughing gas.

It makes you relax and stops you feeling any pain,

meaning Dr Omar can get to work.

First the deeper tissue is sewn up with dissolvable stitches.

You're doing so well, Charlie.

So well, in fact, his mind's on something else entirely.

-I'm still starving, actually.

-You're still starving?!

It's an interesting time to be thinking about food,

but when a guy's gotta eat, a guy's gotta eat.

You'll have to wait a bit longer though, mate,

cos we've got to tackle the top layer now.

Is it fixed?

It's fixed!

One forehead fixed and a patched-up patient ready to go.

-Thank you.

-Nice one, Charlie.

I enjoyed that because it tickled a bit.

Tickled?! Must have been that laughing gas!

I'm very pleased with the way that the stitches have come together

and I think that in a few weeks' time,

you shouldn't be able to see much of a scar.

Well, it's good news, and I'm sure Charlie's learnt his lesson.

Do you need to wear a helmet while you're on grass?

-Yeah, what do you think?

-Yeah.

Phew! You had us worried there for a moment!

So Charlie heads off home with a nice new head.

Bye, Charlie!

Ouch!

We've got loads of amazing body tricks to show you.

Here's how to fool your friends' tastebuds.

This is a good trick and all you need is the tongue.

But the tongue has to be dry,

so that's what I'm going to do with this kitchen towel.

Now I'm going to take a piece of food...

-HE WHISPERS

-..chocolate...

..and put it on Xand's tongue.

Without looking at his tongue,

let's see if Xand can guess what the food is.

Can you tell me what that is?

HE SLURS

Is it itchy?

HE SLURS

You've lost your keys?

Oh, cheese! Why didn't you say?

Now the reason Xand can't taste it

is because the molecules in food

that give it flavour need to be dissolved in saliva

before you can detect them.

OK, Xand chew it up for me now.

-So can you tell me what it is?

-Chocolate.

-That's right. Could you taste it with a dry tongue?

-No.

Chris has found a way to take away the taste of chocolate.

Why would you do that?!

You know how much I like chocolate!

So in order for a food to have a taste

it must be dissolved in saliva first.

Only then can the flavour be detected by our taste buds.

Give it a try and see if you can trick your friends.

Ouch!

Now it's time for Chris to show you a hospital department

you've never seen before.

MUSIC: "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce

A spot!

Normally this would be a disaster,

but today I'm on duty at the skin clinic

so I can get this checked out.

And nurse Debbie Woodcock is ready for emergencies just like this.

Right, so, I'm just going to have a look at it

with my magnifying glass which looks right into your skin, OK?

Yeah, that just looks like a simple pimple.

-It's not the worst you've ever seen?

-Nothing to worry about.

I really want to squeeze it!

Don't squeeze your spots, no,

because what if your hands aren't clean

and then you go pwuh!

And all the gunge comes out of the spot like we want it to,

but under all your fingers and your nails, you might have lots of germs.

Then when you squeeze it all the pus might go out,

but then you've left a hole and all the germs might go in.

So what you're saying is I have to live with this for a couple of days?

Oh, Chris, it's just a simple pimple! I think you'll survive!

OK, enough about my skin complaint.

At the dermatology unit they look at skin.

It's our largest organ

and it provides a protective layer all over our bodies.

But like anything in the human body, things can go wrong.

Rachael comes into the clinic with some very sore patches on her legs.

Nurse Sophie Dolman takes a look.

So this is typical of eczema

and that layer of skin that keeps the moisture in isn't working,

so your skin is really dehydrated.

Eczema is a very common problem.

It makes the skin dry, itchy and sore

and bad patches can get infected if not looked after properly.

So Rachael you've tried lots of creams. They haven't worked.

So why haven't the creams that Rachael's tried worked?

They haven't been strong enough.

Help is at hand with a special moisturising treatment

We've put on some very, very strong moisturising cream

and some steroids onto the eczema

and the steroids are going to damp down the inflammation.

They work better if they're kept against the skin.

And now they're bandaging it all up,

cos otherwise everything would get very greasy.

Next in is Daniel who's had a rare skin condition since birth

which causes his skin to blister very easily.

It's not infectious but it is serious,

and the symptoms need to be kept under control.

I can see that you've got dry skin

on your face and on your neck and on your hands.

Why have you got dry skin?

My skin produces too much on my joints

and doesn't produce enough where it looks normal.

What kind of things does it stop you doing?

I weren't allowed to do PE in school.

When I, like, walk far I come out in blisters.

-On your feet?

-Yeah, yeah, my feet are the worst bit.

Can you show me where you've got the condition?

-My elbows, my hands.

-You're making too much skin here.

This is Dan's hand, this is my hand,

and everywhere there are creases,

everywhere the skin folds on Dan's hand,

he makes too much skin

and this is what he has to rub off

with the moisturising cream.

Obviously this is a tough thing to live with. How do you manage?

I just get on with it and cope the best I can with it.

Do you ever get self-conscious about it?

No, there's no point.

It's just part of me, isn't it?

So although Dan's skin condition can't be cured,

he'll still come to the clinic regularly.

He's getting the treatment

he'll continue getting for the rest of his life

and that enables him to both cope with the pain

and deal with the skin.

OK, right, good to see you again, Daniel.

Finally Molly comes into the clinic to check up on her eczema,

after receiving the same treatment as Rachael a few weeks ago.

She's been following a moisturising regime at home.

So, Molly, I haven't seen you for four weeks. How's your eczema?

It's nearly gone.

-Nearly gone?

-Can you show me?

-Yes.

-So it was bad on the knee, was it?

-Yeah.

And how much better is this now?

Much better, because last time I came it was all red

and it had all gone really dry.

So are there lots of different ways of treating eczema?

Do you have to treat different children differently?

Yes, and everybody's different,

so what one cream will work for one person won't work for another.

So unfortunately, with the amount of creams there are,

-it is a bit of trial and error.

-And with Molly it looks like

you've found the right moisturising cream.

You're feeling quite good about this?

Yes.

Ouch!

How much does the average adult's skin weigh?

Is it as much as...

The answer is C.

Three pineapples weigh just under 3 kilos

and so does the average adult's skin.

Ouch!

-Xand?

-Yes?

-Hold this.

-Argh! A plastic snake!

These things are terrifying!

Yes, but what if the snake was real?

This is a case for Investigation Ouch!

As a doctor specialising in tropical medicine,

I'm used to working in some exotic locations with dangerous creatures.

But today I'm on the top floor

of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

And in fact, this is one of the most dangerous locations

I've ever been in,

because on this floor are 180 of the world's deadliest snakes.

There are many species of snake here and each one is capable

of delivering a potentially life-threatening dose of venom,

a poisonous fluid snakes inject through their fangs.

Now if you're wondering who on earth would volunteer

to work with these deadly snakes,

meet Dr Robert Harrison.

Why are you keeping 180 venomous snakes in this room?

We take venom from these snakes and that then is used

to make medicines to treat people

who would otherwise die from snakebite.

That life-saving medicine is known as antivenom

and it's actually made from the snake venom itself.

The antivenom medicine Dr Robert

and his team are helping to make in Liverpool

is used to treat people 4,000 miles away in West Africa,

where there are 36,000 deaths every year from snake venom.

Meet Paul Rowley, an expert snake handler

who's brought some snakes out of their habitat for us to see.

Well, this is a Nigerian Saw-Scale Viper

and it's amongst the most dangerous snakes in the world to man.

Even though they are small they are an extremely dangerous snake.

They do kill a lot of people.

Because antivenom medicine is made using snake venom,

Dr Robert and Paul have to collect that venom from the snake's mouth,

but it's a dangerous business.

When the snake bites a dish like this,

the poisonous venom drips out of the fangs and is collected.

It's a bit like milking a cow and it doesn't hurt the snake.

Rob, what would happen if instead of a glass dish this was human flesh?

Once it gets into the blood,

it causes terrific bleeding throughout the body.

The poor patient is just bleeding from everywhere,

from the nose, from the gums,

from the eyes and internally.

For a little snake it can cause a lot of harm,

and this small drop of venom that we've just collected

is more than enough to kill a human being.

But it's also enough to make the antivenom

that will save people's lives.

If you're squeamish, look away now.

This is a 12-year-old boy who was bitten on the foot

by a Nigerian Saw-Scale viper.

He lost his big toe but the antivenom saved his life.

Each snake has a different type of venom

and needs its own antivenom to be made.

So, ready for another? This one is seriously fangtastic!

This is a Nigerian puff adder.

So the snake has just bitten a mat,

and that's just one of the problems of doing this.

This is a very, very tricky thing to do.

This adder's venom has a different effect on the human body

to the previous snake.

Terrific destruction of the tissue around the bite.

It just destroys the muscle and the skin.

So this venom actually dissolves flesh,

and then it spreads around the body and causes of other problems.

This is a seven-year-old boy who was bitten on the hand

by a Nigerian puff adder while he was cutting grass.

The venom caused blood-filled blisters to erupt,

but he made full recovery thanks to the antivenom.

But not all snakes release their venom by biting.

This snake is extremely quick and it can spit its venom.

And that's why it's called the spitting cobra.

In fact, it can spit as far as two metres

and if it was to get in your eyes, it could blind you.

So Dr Robert's got his faceguard on and I'm staying well away

to let the experts collect the venom.

You're just milking the venom glands there?

We're just massaging the venom glands.

Now, don't worry. It's highly unlikely that you'll ever need

the antivenom being made here.

We don't have any snakes like that in England, do we?

We don't. We're really lucky we don't have anything

like the cobras or the hooded puffer or things like,

that but we do have the British Adder

and it is actually a really quite important snake.

There was a near-death case two years ago

which...when you're going out, just stay clear of these snakes.

Don't handle them, don't touch them. Leave them alone.

Rob, I think after today, that advice is extremely obvious.

I'm going to stay well back!

That was spectacular, and remember,

the venom that Rob and Paul risk their lives to collect

today in Liverpool will be used to make antivenom

and that will be used to save people

who've been bitten by snakes in Africa.

Ouch!

In the Accident and Emergency department

the team are ready for their next case.

Let's meet him.

This is nine-year-old Ahmed. He's a sight for sore eyes!

I hit my eye on the windowsill.

I woke up the next day and my eyebrow had a big bump

and I couldn't open it.

I bet that caused a few raised eyebrows at home!

Not yours, though, Ahmed, obviously! So how did it happen?

Ahmed was at home playing a video game.

He was having fun when his big sister fancied a go.

She tried to muscle her way in. Ah, sisterly love!

Oh, 3-2! Come on, the Blues!

Ahmed stood his ground,

but before he could take a shot at goal,

she pushed him off the chair - ouch!

When I look down or when I look up, it hurts.

I can only look straight.

Luckily, Dr Rachel Jenner's on hand

to see what's up with that eye.

What happened to your eye?

I banged my eye on the windowsill

and then I looked in the mirror and I had a big bump here.

Yeah, that is a biggie!

Ahmed's developed a periorbital haematoma,

which is a much more impressive way of saying he's got a black eye.

It's actually blood that turns a black eye black,

caused by bleeding under the skin and around the eye,

leaving him with a right shiner.

To be sure there's no serious damage,

Dr Rachel begins a thorough examination.

One of the first things we always do is check their eyesight.

We'll cover up your good eye.

Can you start at the top of the chart and read the letters?

T-H-V-A-U-X...

So Ahmed's eyesight is looking great

but there's more to check out than that.

Behind your eye lies a bony socket holding your eyeball

and lots of muscles and nerves that allow your eyes to move,

and it's all these parts Dr Rachel needs to examine for damage.

First she checks his eyeballs. are reacting normally.

Can you keep looking at my finger?

Then she makes sure his eye socket isn't broken. That'll be sore, then.

If I touch you on your cheek there, does it feel OK?

Luckily our eyes are well-protected

so things are looking good for Ahmed.

I don't think there's any damage to your actual eye.

I think it's just your eyelid that's very, very bruised

and that will be sore like a bruise anywhere on your body.

-It should get better by itself. No special treatment.

-Thank you.

I'd steer clear of that sister of yours, though.

-Ooh is that her?

-No, no, a different one.

Well, this has all been a real eye-opener for Ahmed.

I've learned never to fight with my sister again.

Smart move, smart move! Bye, Ahmed!

Next time...

we whisk up a blood smoothie.

Xand's going to find out what's wrong with these body bits.

And Chris is in theatre for some amazing eye surgery.

And now I'm going to open the skin on the surface of the eye.

So we'll see you next time on Operation Ouch!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd