Pediatric Facial Laceration Surgery

Facial lacerations, also known as facial cuts or facial wounds, are frequently treated by a plastic surgeon.  Dr. Bray, Jr. has extensive experience treating children with facial lacerations.  He is board certified in Plastic surgery, Facial Plastic Surgery, and Otolaryngology.   He treats many pediatric patients with many plastic surgical problems including Congenital Nevi , ear deformity, facial trauma, and facial lacerations.

Diagnosis

The evaluation of a facial laceration will always include a complete head and neck exam.  This will include evaluation for facial fractures and injury to the facial nerve.  The laceration will be thoroughly cleaned. The laceration will be evaluated for depth, length, loss of tissue, contamination, and injury to surrounding structures.

Surgery

The facial laceration may be repaired under local anesthesia in the office or in some cases under general anesthesia at the hospital.  If the procedure is performed in the office, then a numbing cream is placed over the wound first.  This numbing cream allows the infiltration of local anesthetic to be applied with minimal discomfort.   The laceration may then be closed with full local anesthesia.   Dr. Bray, Jr. puts forth great effort to make the experience comfortable for the child.  The wound closure is done under magnification.  This allows for the most precise closure.  The closure is usually performed in layers.  The deep layers are closed first with suture that will dissolve.  The superficial closure may also be performed with suture that dissolves.

Postoperative

The suture line is kept clean and antibiotic ointment is applied.  If sutures need to be removed they may be removed in 5-7 days.