Deep head wound

[5BlindMice]

Ds (11) has a wound on forehead that went down to the bone, nurse wanted to stitch but long story short glueing was the best option. He said as it’s so deep it will take a while to heal from the inside out, so to be extremely careful not to knock it. It was maybe the size of an adults long thumb nail.

But he didn’t say how long it would take and google isn’t helping, so I’m not sure how long to tell school to avoid PE. He also has rugby for the next 3 Tuesdays....

Anyone any wiser than me here?

Hi, I’m a nurse, not a&e though.
Personally, I wouldn’t allow the rugby for two weeks at least. Let it really knit back together. What will they be doing in pe? I would allow tennis or non contact sports/games.
You could ring your treatment room nurse for advice.

My DDs friend had something similar, had to avoid possible trauma to wound for 2 weeks.

Thank you. No idea what PE would entail but I wonder if I should just say no physical activity for 2 weeks then it’s all covered? It happened a couple of days ago and he’s very stressed about knocking it, he’s even asking me to wash his hair tonight (there’s still blood in it 🙈). I’ve said back to school tomorrow but he’s worrying about that too.

To be fair it’s his 2nd head injury requiring a&e in 3 weeks so he’s probably right being concerned about clumsiness!

I’m not a medical professional.

For it to heal well from the inside out I’d be erring on the side of caution and not be letting him do any physical activity at all for three weeks to aid that recovery.

He’s 11, even if not PE. He’ll be running and jumping. He’ll need his hair washed and sleeping at night it’s bound to get rubbed by the pillow. Rugby is too much but archery might be fine.
Sadly no matter what you do it will scar, and the scab will get picked off accidentally by his cap.
Don’t restrict too much.

Did the doctor mention concussion? (My DS plays rugby and was recently off for recovery from concussion -teo whole weeks of no sport of any kind then two weeks phased return is current RFU policy). Even if no concussion I'd certainly keep him off for two weeks for a cut that severe.

Interesting with different opinions, he received a concussion 3/4 weeks ago when he was knocked out, but he’s been totally fine. This time he hit his forehead which is ‘better’ apparently & no sign of concussion this time - school did ambulance him up to hosp just incase though.

The nurse actually said he didn’t need any time off school but I’ve kept him off 2 days anyway, he said no running/jumping etc but again didn’t say how long for...

He’s going to be left with 2 small scars and a large one but nothing we can do about that, I think the nurse just put the fear in him about it opening back up - he’s an anxious child though.

53 please read this - it's the RFU's official guidelines on concussion:

www.englandrugby.com/my-rugby/players/player-health/concussion-headcase/

My son's coach insisted I take him to the doctor and have him assessed and follow the guidelines about time out - and my son wasn't even knocked out, just dizzy and blurred vision. There's a lot of medical evidence building up that repeated head injuries (particularly for young brains) cause cumulative damage, and it's really important to let things heal before exposing the brain to any risk of further buffeting.

Yes, your DS will climb the walls with frustration (and so, by extension, will you - our enforced "2 weeks off everything" drove us both nuts). But it's really important to do it.