Facial Trauma Common Accidents

The face is a vital part of a human being. Facial trauma can impair a persons ability to eat, speak, interact with others, and perform important functions. Sports like hockey, football and basketball account for a large percentage of these accidents, (among young adults 10-16). The more severe accidents happen because of motor vehicle collisions including motorcycles and all terrain vehicles. (17-19) Among combatants facial injuries include gunshot wounds and other explosive or incendiary devices. Because the face is such a complex structure involving bone, tissue, and muscle it is very difficult to repair and treat completely.

Travis and Nash

Today in class I went into the case of Charla Nash, the woman who was attacked by a bloodthirsty chimpanzee. This being another well known case was really good since there was a lot of information on it. A summary of the incident follows:

On February 16, 2009 Travis attacked Sandra Herolds 55 year old friend Charla Nash inflicting injuries to her face and limbs. Travis at the time was taking medication for Lyme disease. Other information reported was even though Travis was familiar with Nash, who worked for Herold she had a different hairstyle that day. Travis immediately attacked her when he saw her. Herold then 70 years old attempted to stop the attack by hitting him with a shovel and stabbing him with a butcher knife. Herold called the police and the recorded police call you can hear her yelling the phrase, "he is eating her!" When the police arrived to the scene, Travis tried to open a locked passenger seat and when he couldn't he retreated back to his cage with already several existing wound shots, where he was found dead.

Within the first 72 hours, Nash underwent more than seven surgeries to her face by four teams of surgeons. The visible damage was that Nash had lost her eyes, lips, mid facial structure, ears and nose as well as significant brain tissue injuries. She was featured on the Oprah show in order to spread awareness as well as raise money for all of the medical bills that would follow. Travis the chimpanzee was taken into scientific study where it was confirmed he had received laced tea with Xanax, the anti depressant drug which can cause rage, hallucinations, mania and therefore probable cause of the attack.

Below are pictures of Nash before and after the attack:


 

Two Halves, Beautiful Face: Katie Piper

Background on the title of this blog post: Two Halves (for those that skipped right to the content and did not read the title) I am splitting this blog post into two halves since that is the layout of the productivity of my class period

Today has been a very fast paced day, the clock seem to tick faster than normal or maybe that is part of my paranoia. I am donating blood after thesis class, during lunch, so I'm looking forward to that, but I had to go make my appointment so that made me arrive late to thesis. My friend caught me up on the little that I missed which was my teacher talking to us about using our thesis time wisely and reminding us that this is not a time to work on college applications. We disregard this several times, not excluding myself. There is just so many things to get done and it is easy to get distracted and side tracked on college since that is also right around the corner and a ticking bomb if you must say. Deadlines approaching.

Second half, now lets begin about my findings for the day on my thesis project. Katie Piper, does this name ring a bell? I looked into this case of facial disfiguration today in class. This is a summary of the attack. Katie Piper was a 22 year old British model, very physically attractive. "She would turn heads wherever she went" as several of her friends had said before, because of her beauty. On March 31, 2008 she was attacked with acid by a complete stranger on the street outside of a local café, security cameras captured this. Piper was rushed to the hospital, upon her arrival half of her nose was gone, one of her ears and her skin severely destroyed. Over 30 procedures were needed and she was required to wear a plastic mask 23 hours a day to speed her healing process. The suspects were caught and sentenced, one of the suspects was her ex boyfriend. Below are pictures of Katie Piper before and after the attack:

Background Facial Trauma and Children (Subtopic)

Some fun facts, not literally fun that was satirical but some facts:

• In the United States about three million people are treated in emergency departments for facial trauma injuries every year 
• Of the pediatric patients, 5 percent have suffered facial fractures.
• In the children under three years old, the primary cause of these fractures is falls.
• In children more than five years old, the primary cause is car accidents. 
• There are three types of injuries: Soft Tissue, Dental Structure, and Bone Injury

Its different in children versus in adults because facial trauma treatment is more difficult since the child still has to develop and grow and that cannot be predicted with 100% accuracy. 

Smile!

Today was picture day at my school. This event was more than exciting to me because we got to wear our graduation gowns, symbol reminding me how close I am to the finish line of this high school race. I requested transcripts from Ms. Randle as well as talked with the counselor. The class period went by pretty fast.

Face

I've discovered that I have not really specified what I mean when I state "facial trauma". Such a loose term in human vocabulary, but I have decided to specify my own definition for it, and the definition it has in my thesis project. When I mention or make a reference to the term facial trauma, I am referring to any injury to the face or upper jaw bone.

Facial traumas include injuries to the skin, underlying skeleton, the neck, nose and sinuses, the eye sockets or teeth and other parts of the mouth.

Keeping in my mind that I am diving more into the topic of severe cases, this is insight into what the term signifies. 

ACT

No blog for the day. The ACT was administered, but I was not present.

Presentations Concluded

Last day of presentations in my class, everyone did well, now to wait for our feedback.

Presentations

Today I presented what I have so far of my thesis project through Power Point. I believe my presentation went extremely well, and there were several questions toward the end which lets me know my audience was engaged in my topic. It was difficult to limit myself to the time frame specified but with summarizing a few of the topics I was going to branch off on, it was possible.

One of our counselors, Ms. Langet, later came in to the classroom to help us register for ACT.

This concluded our class period.

Haze and Brain

The weather was absolutely fascinating today when I stepped out of my house. I could just feel the breeze brushing my cheeks softly. This great start to my morning put me in a pleasant mood and I was very productive in thesis. I watched several videos on patients who have had traumatic experiences but one video that particularly stood out to me was an informative video on how trauma affects the brain. I have provided the link at the end of this post, please feel free to watch it and jot down some notes like I did. This is the first day I have touched on the brain and the psychological effects side of my thesis project.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSQvFd8tyuE

Trauma

Trauma, what comes to mind when someone thinks "trauma". Most likely a negative connotation since the word itself brings negativity to the atmosphere. If someone suffers a traumatic experience it is most definitely not pleasant. The traumas I have been researching are third degree burn patients that have been hospitalized over a long period of time as well as one patient who suffered severe dental trauma resulting in jaw reconstruction and more facial surgeries. Today I also wrote down a large quantity of notes hopefully conveying my emotion as I read the patient files. Productive day.