A month ago, a 72-year-old man from Thanh Hoa province was bitten in the face by a dog, severing part of his lower lip. He received timely first aid, had his wound stitched up, and was given tetanus and rabies vaccinations.
The wound is stable, but the resulting defect of the lower lip causes significant difficulties in the patient's daily life. Secretions and saliva frequently leak out when eating or talking, requiring treatment for this lower lip defect.
At the Department of Plastic and Microsurgery, Military Central Hospital 108, the elderly man underwent reconstructive surgery to repair the missing part of his lip using a skin flap from the surrounding area. The successful surgery helped the patient regain a continuous lip contour, improving his quality of life in both function and aesthetics.
Surgeons reconstruct the lip of a patient bitten by a dog. (Photo: Provided by the hospital)
According to Dr. Le Kim Nha, Department of Plastic and Microsurgery, Central Military Hospital 108, in first aid for dog bites, it is necessary to separate the patient from the dangerous area. If the wound is bleeding profusely, quickly use a clean cloth or clean gauze to press on the injured area to stop the bleeding. If the wound stops bleeding, wash it with soap and clean water, then bandage it with clean gauze and transport the patient to the nearest medical facility.
At a medical facility, patients should be examined promptly and advised on rabies and tetanus vaccinations by a specialist. Dog bite wounds often have a high risk of infection, so they need to be bandaged and cleaned daily, combined with the use of antibiotics and systemic painkillers.
For infected wounds with oozing, they should be left open and cared for with daily dressing changes until they are clean before being sutured closed. Once the patient's general and local condition stabilizes, reconstructive surgery will be used to rebuild the missing organ or structure, improving the patient's quality of life.
On average, more than 500,000 domestic accidents caused by dog bites occur annually in Vietnam. In recent years, the frequency of cases involving elderly people or children being bitten by dogs has increased significantly, with injuries commonly occurring in the head, face, and neck area, leaving extremely serious consequences.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/cu-ong-bi-cho-can-dut-roi-moi-ar914348.html
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