Head trauma is an injury to the head that may or may not be brain related. The injury can me mild or very severe depending on the cause, head injuries can be causes from a wide variety of accidents or incidents. You can have head trauma from automobile accidents, slips and falls, sport accidents, violent shaking to the head/body (common with babies or small children) assaults or fights, and gunshot injury to the head. Head or brain can be damaged directly by things such as hard blows to the head, or indirectly by things like brain swelling or lack of oxygen. There are four common types of head injuries:
Closed injury: an injury that doesn’t break open your skull or penetrate the brain tissue. Even though a closed injury …show more content…
Injuries to the scalp can lead to bleeding and/or tissue damage.
Mild head injury symptoms include the following inability to stand or balance, confusion, small cuts or bumps headache, nausea, temporary memory loss, ringing in the ear. More severe head injuries symptoms include bleeding from deep cuts or wounds in the scalp, of consciousness, seizures, vomiting, loss of muscle control, loss of consciousness, abnormal eye movements, inability to focus the eyes. When diagnosing a head injury doctors use a few different types of imaging to check for bleeding brain damage or bleeding in the skull. These test are called MRI’s, X-rays, CT scans.
Treatment of a head injury depends on how severe the injury is and also your overall health. Your doctor may prescribe medications to prevent blood clotting or seizures. Bleeding to the brain requires surgery to stop the bleeding; you may also need surgery to reduce the pressure in the skull if your brain is swelling. If the head injury is mild your doctor will just prescribe rest and advise a family member to monitor your condition. Long term effects depend on how severe the head trauma