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  1. #1
    nrp's Avatar
    nrp is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    Default 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.
    Mommy to
    DD1 (12/06)
    DS (6/08)
    DD2 (10/11)

  2. #2
    swissair81 is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    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.

  3. #3
    nrp's Avatar
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    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!
    Mommy to
    DD1 (12/06)
    DS (6/08)
    DD2 (10/11)

  4. #4
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    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

  5. #5
    nrp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by scriptkitten View Post
    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.
    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!
    Mommy to
    DD1 (12/06)
    DS (6/08)
    DD2 (10/11)

  6. #6
    gibas23 is offline Silver level (200+ posts)
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    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...

  7. #7
    thomma is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    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!

  8. #8
    trales's Avatar
    trales is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    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.
    Tracey

    DD1 3/07 Itching to take over the universe.
    DD2 1/14 My mellow little snuggler.

  9. #9
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    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.
    Margaret and
    (DS 2/06) and (DD 3/08)

  10. #10
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    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

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

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