[Facial injuries]

Abstract

In spite of a certain reduction in their numbers, facial injuries still raise frequent problems for general surgeons. Car accidents are now less commonly responsible than motorcycle accidents. In the most complex cases, one may find lesions of the soft parts and bony lesions in association. The wounds should be examined carefully, all foreign bodies removed and should only be sutured if one is certain tht the subjacent structures are undamaged, e.g. facial bony canals are often damaged in vertical wounds of the cheek situated behind the anterior border of the masseter muscle. As far as bony lesions are concerned, they rarely give rise to typical breakdowns of the suture lines described by Lefort, but more commonly cause true dislocations which are impossible to describe. Fractures are often undiagnosed owing to oedema which masks them, e.g. those of the malar bone and of the orbit and even those of the nose. This failure to diagnose them is serious for, at a later stage, surgical correction is more difficult and the prejudice is then not only esthetic but also functional, e.g. causing diplopia. Clinical examination of a patient with trauma of the face includes a series of simple gestures which a general surgeion should carry out in order to avoid failure to diagnose such lesions. Although he may not treat them all, he sould recognise them and decide which have priority in the treatment of multiple injuries. Careful inspection and palpation usually permit one to detect bony lesions which XRays then demonstrate only by careful choice of appropriate views.