My baby got stitches in her forehead last night! (long)

DD tripped last night and fell into the door jamb, giving her a 2+ inch vertical slice on her forehead. It bled for a surprisingly short time, but the gash was so wide and open that it obviously needed attention. DH's brother is a ped and his wife is a dermatologist, so they had referred us to a pediatric urgent care clinic rather than the ER, as they said we would have been waiting all night long otherwise.

We were hoping (although suspecting not) that it could be dermabonded, but the doctor took one look and said stitches. DD cried when it first happened but then was amazingly calm and even happy all the way to the clinic and while we waited. They applied EMLA cream before they irrigated it, and she was great for that too. But when it came time to lay her down and do the suturing, it was truly awful. She was terrified and it took me and DH holding her down and the nurse holding her head. In the end the doc only did two stitches, even though when she first saw it she said it would need three or four. I pressed her a bit after, as I thought it looked too open on the ends (the two stiches were in the middle), but she said it would heal fine. I still wasn't satisfied so I convinced DH to stop by his brother's house (at this point it was 11pm) and he and my SIL agreed that it was a little more open than ideal and suggested that they could dermabond the ends (since the stitches pulled the main part of the gash together, dermabond would be strong enough to seal the ends). As tortutous as the suturing was, DH was reluctant to put her through anything else, and I totally saw his point, but I was afraid of worse scarring. So, BIL drove to his office (just five minutes) to pick up the dermabond in the middle of the night. I held DD as she was watching Curious George as he did it and she didn't even whimper. I don't know if it will make a huge difference in the outcome, but it looks a lot better to me now, and I at least feel that I did everything that I could. I worried that I was overreacting, but SIL agreed that she would have done the same thing.

I know much, much worse things can happen, and I'm thankful DD is fine, but it was nonetheless a pretty harrowing evening. My SIL said that if we (or DD) was unhappy with it in a few years that a plastic surgeon could revise it, but I am hoping it will heal well enough that it won't be too big a deal. I am debating giving her bangs for the summer to conceal the wound as it heals and maybe even shield it a little more from the sun.

BTW - has anyone had any experience with mederma? I need to ask SIL if that would help any, once the stitches are out.

Usually if you go to an ER, they will have a plastic surgeon look at forehead gashes- especially on a girl.

You might want to wait on the bangs, so there is no hair getting stuck in the wound. After that, it sounds like a fine idea.

Both BIL and SIL agreed that a clean cut on the forehead is a pretty easy suture, and that a plastic surgeon wouldn't really have any value added. They said a cut to the lip or ear, or any other "tricky" place they would insist on a plastic surgeon. Frankly, the two stitches that did get done were good (according to SIL who is pretty picky about this sort of thing), and with the dermabond I think the result is as good as one could hope, but if I hadn't had the ends "fixed" I would have been disatistfied. We were lucky, of course, that we had family that could "fix" it.

As far as bangs, I am going to wait at least a week or two until it heals properly and to get an idea for how bad the wound will look as it heals completely. She's never had them, so it might be a cute look for her!

i'm so sorry.

in january, my then 15m old DS fell on a sharp metal corner at a children's museum and got a similar gash/puncture in his forehead.

i was hysterically upset for the rest of the day. i have twins and live in the city (wasn't using a car that day) so it was ridiculously eventful to just get to the pedi and then Children's Hospital.

i was so so upset and scared about scarring.. and just the recurring vision that he could have lost his eye.

lucky, they just put glue in it.

this was 6m ago and you can barely see the scar at this point. it was bright pink for a few months, but seriously, its so much better. all we've been doing is vitamin E 2x a day.

my heart goes out to you. i know how hard it is

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Originally Posted by scriptkitten

this was 6m ago and you can barely see the scar at this point. it was bright pink for a few months, but seriously, its so much better. all we've been doing is vitamin E 2x a day.

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Thanks! That is good to hear - and for the tip about the vitamin E. I tried to put on a brave front for DD, but I was a wreck. By sheer luck my in-laws were at our house and DH was unusually early from work, so the in-laws stayed with DS and both of us were able to go with DD to get it stitched. Of course, I hardly slept a wink last night, from the adrenaline. I also had to check on her in the middle of the night, to make sure there was no latent head injury, so that added to the insomnia. Other than the actual stitches, DD made it through the whole episode much better than I did!

last Nov, DD managed to get into escalator by herself, I ran after her and she fell down and hit one of the escalator edges when she tried to step down. She had an inch cut in the between of her eyebrows. It wasn't deep but it did not stop bleeding too, so I called her pedi and she suggested the pediatric urgent care as well and guessed the wound probably needed skin glue. We waited 5 mins before we got called in and the doctor just pressed her wound together and sticked tiny surgical strips to force the wound to close.

The scar is not even visible now (I used mederma), just sligthly pinkish after I rub her face with a washcloth.

But I was a wreck for weeks...blaming myself for losing sight over her. what if the scar stay visible? etc...

I feel your pain!
My dd fell and her bottom teeth went all the way through her bottom lip. She had 3 gashes. She needed 2 stitches on the inside and 4 stitches on the outside. She was an absolute trooper through the whole thing.

The two things were were repeatedly told:
Vitamin E and keep the scar out of the sun for a year...so faithfully use sunscreen---which we do anyway.

It's been 3 months and everyone else says how great her scars look.

Kim
ds&dd-7!

Mederma is great. DD got a dog bite to the face, 3 stiches and with the Mederma and a lot of sunscreen the scar is nearly invisible.

The plastic therapy physical therapist we see for DD's burns say that foreheads heal great. DD had a line where a deeper burn was on her forehead and it is looking great. The plastic surgeon said mederma is fine. We use is 2x a day on her neck (where we are doing deep massage to break up some scar tissue). The best part about that is it has sunscreen in it. That will really help too.

I've used mederma before and it works really well. You have to wait until the wound is healed though. Also it is pretty $$$, but I think worth it. They also have a great product for stretch marks:thumbsup:

So sorry for your DD, but glad she is okay!

Thanks for the mederma recs - I see that there are at least two kinds - one marketed for kids. It appears that it some sort of vanishing purple formula, which actually sounds unappealing to me. Which version did you all use?

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Originally Posted by nrp

I am debating giving her bangs for the summer to conceal the wound as it heals and maybe even shield it a little more from the sun.
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Yes, do the bangs. DS got a cut in his forehead last October, and they dermabonded it. It was just on the edge of the hairline. The Ped said to shield it from the sun the first few months to avoid worse scarring or a difference in skin tone. We kept his hair a little longer and had him wear a hat and or sunscreen every day. And now you can barely see it.

I'm really sorry you had such a rough night, I hope your DD is feeling better.

ETA: Good call on insisting on the dermabond. Tha way the wound is more protected IMO, also since it's now "sealed" no hair or dirt can get in the wound, so the bangs wouldn' be a problem.

I'm so sorry! Sounds like they did a good job though. So, for Mederma, is it to prevent keloids or can you use it for more ("dented" scars)? I've heard the same thing about using sunscreen.

I wanted to send you :hug: and so sorry for a hard night.

So far no gashes with the boys but my sister busted my lip when I was around 5 or 6, I have a lovely 1.5" scar to always remember her by.

I guess to be as old as it is it doesn't look so bad, its vertical, on my lip and above, no crease, just an outline of where the stitches were. You can only see it well up close.

Sorry, don't mean to take over your thread, but would Mederma help this? A scar so old? If my sister and I had a great relationship I would *love* it with good memories, but our relationship's been pretty bad. I know things can change and I hope they do, but the scar can go :).

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Originally Posted by edurnemk

Yes, do the bangs. DS got a cut in his forehead last October, and they dermabonded it. It was just on the edge of the hairline. The Ped said to shield it from the sun the first few months to avoid worse scarring or a difference in skin tone. We kept his hair a little longer and had him wear a hat and or sunscreen every day. And now you can barely see it.

I'm really sorry you had such a rough night, I hope your DD is feeling better.

ETA: Good call on insisting on the dermabond. Tha way the wound is more protected IMO, also since it's now "sealed" no hair or dirt can get in the wound, so the bangs wouldn' be a problem.

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Thanks - I spoke to my SIL last night and she actually recommended the self-adhesive silicone sheets. You can cut them to size and I think they fit sort of like a thick band-aid. I ordered some last night so I'm hoping that they are opaque enough that it will shield it from the sun, since I don't think I can put a cream on under the silicone sheet, since it won't adhere. I had been eyeing a new sunhat for DD, and I think I will order that, too. She will just have to get used to wearing a hat EVERYWHERE this summer.

For the other PPs - when I was looking around at Mederma reviews and the silicone reviews, it appears that both are marketed for new or old scars, although it seems that results will vary. SIL said that research has only borne out the efficacy of the silicone, but obviously some other posters and lots of people who wrote reviews were happy with the Mederma. Others swear by just massaging the scar with aquaphor or vaseline, and keep them well moisturized.

About 14 months ago DD fell out of bed and gashed her forehead on a chair next to her bed. We went to the emergency room and they dermabonded it. It was an inch long, about. The doc said their concern was scarring, so I trusted him. It took at least 3 weeks for that stuff to come off! We faithfully suncreened it once it came off, and did Vit E and mederma too, but couldn't get to consistently doing the mederma, even though I wanted to (she was in school every day, and I wanted to make sure she had sunscreen on. Also I didn't want to buy 2 tubes of mederma to have in multiple places). I don't think they did a great job bringing the cut together, as there is definitely uneveness to the skin/scar now. But the sunscreen definitley helped, and from most angles there is not color to it now. But unfortunately, it is still visible. But it has gotten much better. I struggled with using mederma AND sunscreen - the version I got didn't have sunscreen. Same with Vit E. And sunscreen felt like the most important piece, and I think it was.

In the back of my head I know that she could go to a plastic surgeon, or laser, in the future if it really bothers her. For now, I think it's fine. But I had a really hard time with it for awhile, feeling like I should have asked for a plastic surgeon at the hospital that night, but it's so hard in the moment to want to wait any longer for treatment!

I thought research showed that vit E didn't have an impact. Some people say the mederma works b/c of the act of massaging (which breaks up scar tissue). The silicone, I believe, works by applying light pressure to the area, so a keloid doesn't form. I think the silicone also comes in a paint on form.

When DS#2 was about 18months he fell and split open his forehead on a concrete stoop that was busted. Several stitches with that. THen about a year later he fell and was nailed by a metal fence post. Stitches again on the forehead. That doesn't include the two times he was nippped by the dog across the nose as a toddler.

He's 9 now, and other then suncreen I didn't do anything extra to protect the scar. You can barely see them now. I have to look hard. The one I can see the best was the one where his skin was really puffy and the doctor didn't pull the stitches tight enough. but it's really hard to see now.

We've all been there done that so don't feel too bad.

Good Luck,
Jen

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Originally Posted by ladysoapmaker

When DS#2 was about 18months he fell and split open his forehead on a concrete stoop that was busted. Several stitches with that. THen about a year later he fell and was nailed by a metal fence post. Stitches again on the forehead. That doesn't include the two times he was nippped by the dog across the nose as a toddler.

He's 9 now, and other then suncreen I didn't do anything extra to protect the scar. You can barely see them now. I have to look hard. The one I can see the best was the one where his skin was really puffy and the doctor didn't pull the stitches tight enough. but it's really hard to see now.

We've all been there done that so don't feel too bad.

Good Luck,
Jen

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Thank you! I love these stories and they really help! I think part of my anxiety about the whole experience was that I had a pretty severe bike accident when I was 11, and I still have some visible scars on my lip and nose to show for it. DD's injury is not nearly as severe, and she is not at an age, like I was, where she will be particularly self-conscious. But it still clouds my reaction and makes me super-eager to exhaust every possible avenue for scar prevention.

we have the adult version (my mom bought it) and it goes in white and as you rub it in the white goes away. I think you want it to be well healed before you start something like that. The plastic surgeon had us using bacitracin while the area was still open (to keep it moist and prevent crusting) and then light applications of moisturizing cream (we use elta but a good cream is fine) and then once it was fully healed we've been massaging mederma on the area under her chin (big ropey scar) and elta to her grafts/donor site and then elta sunscreen on her face. We really haven't done anything to the spot on her forehead except sunscreen every day-it looks great. I really think your DD will be fine. But sunscreen is crucial. We get her dressed, do her hair and put on "makeup". DH discovered that the easies way is to dot it all over her face and then rub the dots together. Much less likely to get in her eyes!

I haven't had much luck keeping silicone sheets on-even under her compression shirt. They weren't adhesive though but still. It's like a bandaid, she just picks at it-and with the shirt she would dive into it even though it is corset tight until she got it out and then they would get lost. Sigh

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Originally Posted by elephantmeg

I haven't had much luck keeping silicone sheets on-even under her compression shirt. They weren't adhesive though but still. It's like a bandaid, she just picks at it-and with the shirt she would dive into it even though it is corset tight until she got it out and then they would get lost. Sigh

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That's sort of what I'm afraid of. I figured we'll try it for awhile and see how it goes. Thanks for the encouragement - I remember what your DD went through and it is so good to hear that she's doing so well. I have a california baby sunstick that I was thinking would be good, but it has always seemed hard to apply, so I was contemplating getting something else.

Anyone know if the Badger stick is any smoother?