4-year-old boy who presented approximately 1 hour after being attacked by a dog!
PART 1: The patient in this case was a 4-year-old boy who presented approximately 1 hour after being attacked by a dog!He presented with several soft tissue injuries to the face, including a laceration of the right eyelid, a large stellate laceration of the frontal scalp, and an almost complete amputation of the left ear. The ear was holding on by an anterior skin bridge at the level of the tragus. After further examination in the operating room, it was decided that this skin bridge would be sufficient and that the remaining tissue would be viable enough to try and repair the ear primarily. The ear was minimally debrided to healthy bleeding tissue. A 4-0 Vicryl suture was then used to close the cartilage layer, reattaching the pinna to the external auditory canal cartilage. The external auditory canal skin was closed with a 5-0 chromic suture, and cotton balls coated with bacitracin were packed into the ear canal. After closure, all areas were washed with sterile saline, and a sterile dressing was applied and wrapped around the head after application of bacitracin to all suture lines.
