In the last 2 decades, reports of skiing
injuries have shown an increasing number of skiers with severe
trauma. This article provides an account of a retrospective study of 549 patients with 1155
facial injuries sustained while skiing who received treatment at the Department of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery at the University Hospital in Innsbruck, Austria between 1991 and 1996. The study was based on a questionnaire answered by the patients and on case report forms. Most of the patients were male (65.2%) and were aged between 3 and 81 years (average 28.4 years). A simple fall while skiing was the main type of accident (45.9%), followed by collisions with other people (23.5%).
Injuries were classified into 1 of 3 groups: (i) lesions of the soft tissue (32.2% of all
injuries); (ii) dentoalveolar
traumas (24.3%); and (iii) fractures of facial bones (43.5%).
Lacerations and haematomas were the most frequent lesions in patients with
injuries to the soft tissues. The group of patients with dentoalveolar
trauma mainly presented with fractures of tooth crowns. Fractures involving the mandible and the zygomatic bone were predominant in patients in the third group. Concomitant
injuries mainly included
injuries to the brain and
skull fractures. Treatment was ambulatory, or by admission and surgery. We did not observe an increase in the number of skiing accidents causing
facial injury in the last 5 years.
Facial injuries represented 4% of all skiing
injuries, a lower proportion than in other sports.