@trauma_timeabout 6 years ago

Maxillofacial laceration caused by a gunshot wound

Today’s case is this maxillofacial laceration caused by a gunshot wound! It was unclear as to whether he was the victim in a shooting or a perpetrator in a crime that deserved this, however, this showed up in your ER and you have to treat it the same way, stitches! This patient is super lucky because on Xray examination, no fractures were seen. Therefore, the mandible and lower teeth were undamaged, making this only a soft tissue injury! This type of fixture requires an extensive amount of sutures and a rather creative mind to be able to figure out how to put this puzzle back together. Of course, plastics intervention is a must for this closure. The extensivity of the fixture, requiring multiple layer closures, as well as detailed focus on the proper alignment of the vermillion border, is a big job for plastics. A vermillion border repair is a quintessential example of a plastics consult due to the high aesthetic significance of the suture repair. This is the part of the lip line that joins with the chin/philtrum (fold between upper lip and nose); aka the pink border of the upper/lower lip! Maxillofacial surgery was called in to repair this one and let me tell you, the after pictures look amazing! Stay tuned for later in the week to see the follow up images on this case!