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.