Eyebrow Laceration and Repair, If You Dare!

Picture this: It’s Dec. 31 at 11:59 p.m. You’re spending your designated holiday working the overnight. You’re eating some leftover fruitcake in the nurse’s lounge, and you see the following complaint sign into triage: “Drunk/face pain.”   This could mean just about anything when ethanol is on board. You lift your head just slightly over the computer screen and see a young gentleman staggering in the hall. His chart is labeled “SLC” for “streamline care.” Everyone knows that intoxicated patients are never appropriate for your streamline care area, but you decide to take a chance, and hope this guy has something easy to fix.     Simple eyebrow laceration. Note misalignment of eyebrow. Credit: Martha Roberts   This is something you can fix. There is no need to consult plastics or transfer this patient to another facility. You are actually pretty lucky because the laceration goes right though the eyebrow and spares the orbit and globe space. This patient also denies any other injury, and the bleeding is controlled. He is awake, alert, and — surprisingly — not rude! He is obviously intoxicated but behaving appropriately. It is important to take caution with inebriated patients because ethanol can mask pain and other complications. These patients need a full evaluation and often repeat questioning. You can be the judge on how far you want to work up this type of injury, but we can make a few suggestions.   The Approach §  Local infiltratio...
Source: The Procedural Pause - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs