A dad on Facebook is warning parents about the dangers of what's happening in this photo

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For an adult, a piece of hair wrapped too tightly around the skin would be an easy fix. But for a baby, who can't articulate what is wrong with them, it could cause a serious condition called hair tourniquet syndrome, which untreated can lead to the loss of fingers and toes. 

That's what could have happened to five-month-old Molly Walker if her parents hadn't intervened, according to a now-viral Facebook post her dad, Scott Walker, shared at the end of January. 

According to Walker, one morning he and his wife noticed their young daughter was particularly upset and they couldn't figure out how to calm her down. When Walker's wife took off Molly's socks, she noticed a piece of hair wrapped tightly around on of their baby's toes. 

Using a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass, the couple was able to remove the hair, but not before it "cut all the way through Molly's skin," Walker explained in the post. 

Here's a look at her toe 45 minutes after the hair was removed. This image has been shared over 21,000 times since Walker posted it on January 21. 

Hair tourniquet syndrome is dangerous because if the hair is wrapped tight enough, it can cause ischemia, or the restriction of all blood flow, according to a study from the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Fingers, toes, and genitalia are common locations for the condition to occur. Mothers with babies under four-months-old should pay extra attention for the syndrome because they are likely to be losing more hair under this period as a result of changes in their hormones, Baylor Scott and White Health reports.

"It could have been worse had it gone much longer untreated, or if the hair wasn't accessible," Walker explained in the post. "The doctor told me, for future reference, to always check the toes if the baby is inconsolable."