Treatment of facial dog bite injuries in children: A retrospective study☆
Section snippets
Materials and methods
We reviewed 100 children (59 boys, 41 girls) treated between 1985 and 1995 representing 143 bites. There were 68 patients younger than 5 years, 25 patients between 5 and 10 years, and 7 patients between 10 and 15 years old.
Initial examination aimed to detect associated lesions such as neurological (extradural hematoma, craniocerebral), ophthalmic (orbital), orthopedic (cervical spine), and thoracoabdominal wounds. Search for bone injuries was systematic. Because of the legal implications,
Results
The distribution of severity of dog bites was as follows: stage 1, 84 wounds (59% of cases); stage 2, 50 wounds (35% of cases); and stage 3, 9 wounds (6% of cases).
Discussion
Dog bites are an important health care problem and a common cause of trauma to the face in children. In the United States the occurrence of dog bites is estimated to range from 300 to 700 bites per 100,000 people per year, and 30% of these concern children.1 In France, there are 9 million dogs, and 30% of families possess one.2
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Cited by (0)
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