Primary closure of human bite losses of the lip.

Abstract

Human bite injuries of the lip have, because of the potentially contaminated nature of the wounds, been managed by delayed repair after an interval of about 3 months or more when the infection was controlled and the wound healed. On the contrary, from 1985 to 1990, at a plastic surgery unit in Nigeria, a developing country, 37 patients with human bite losses of the lip were managed by an aggressive approach utilizing (1) a 5-day course of antibiotics locally known to be effective against bacterial flora and (2) immediate surgical operation employing the diamond wedge excision method under local anesthesia with direct wound closure. The results have been so favorable that this method of management of human bite injuries is considered a treatment advance.

• Authors: B O Uchendu
• Journal: Plastic and reconstructive surgery (Plast Reconstr Surg) Vol. 90 Issue 5 Pg. 841-5 (Nov 1992) ISSN: 0032-1052 [Print] United States
• PMID: 1410037 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Metronidazole
• Ampicillin

Topics

• Ampicillin (therapeutic use)
• Bites, Human (complications, epidemiology)
• Female
• Humans
• Lip (injuries, surgery)
• Male
• Metronidazole (therapeutic use)
• Nigeria (epidemiology)
• Surgery, Plastic (methods)
• Time Factors
• Wound Infection (drug therapy)