8 year old boy bitten by grandmother's dog, almost severing his ear

While visiting his grandmother's house, an 8-year-old boy in Hanoi was bitten by a dog and was hospitalized with multiple injuries to his head, right arm, etc. In particular, his earlobe was severely damaged, with crushed soft tissue and severed cartilage.

Sang nhà bà chơi, bé trai suýt mất vành tai vì bị chó cắn - Ảnh 1. — Child patient bitten by dog, almost severed ear - Photo: BVCC

Hanoi Children's Hospital has just admitted an 8-year-old boy from Chuong My, Hanoi, who was bitten by a dog and suffered multiple soft tissue injuries to his right ear, scalp, right forearm, and skin abrasions in many areas due to dog bites.

Upon examination, the boy suffered many deep bites and injuries to his head and right arm, the longest laceration being about 5cm long.

According to the family, the child went to play at his grandmother's house and was bitten by the family's dog. Immediately after the accident, the child was taken to Chuong My General Hospital, where first aid was given, the wound was bandaged and the bleeding was temporarily stopped. The family contacted and coordinated with the hospital and immediately transferred the child to Hanoi Children's Hospital.

According to Dr. Hung Anh, Department of General Surgery, Hanoi Children's Hospital, upon receiving the patient, doctors quickly tested and performed emergency surgery on the child.

"The surgery has two main goals: maximum cleaning, removing damaged tissue to avoid infection; maximum preservation of the auricle, ensuring the shape of the ear and the structure of the ear canal.

During the surgery, the doctor found that the auricle was severely damaged, with a lot of soft tissue crushed, the entire cartilage and blood vessel structure from the ear canal to below the auricle were completely damaged and severed. The skin bridge at the earlobe did not have enough blood drainage, showing that the peripheral skin flap was purple and bleeding heavily.

The child underwent surgery to remove the crushed part, suture the cartilage of the external auditory canal and the auricular cartilage, and reconnect the auricular vein using microsurgical techniques. After surgery, the shape of the ear met the requirements, the auricle was warm pink, normal color, not purple. Other wound sites were repeatedly irrigated, debrided, and excess skin was sutured," Dr. Hung Anh informed.

After surgery, the boy was completely conscious and the surgical wound was stable. In addition, the child was given antibiotics, had his wound bandages changed and was vaccinated against rabies and tetanus.

According to Dr. Hung Anh, animal bites are common accidents, especially with children because they are curious and do not yet recognize the dangerous signs of animals.

Can cause serious consequences such as damage to blood vessels, nerves, bite wound infection and especially serious such as rabies or amputation of body parts such as: genitals, ears, nose, limbs... In addition, it also greatly affects the child's psychology, so family members need to have plans to prevent accidents for young children.