Caution! Graphic Yuck Face Pictures!

OK, so now it is time to give the promised story about Skot's unfortunate cycling accident. Road cycling, as much as Skot loves it, has it's down side. One week ago Thursday Skot was cycling with a few members from his cycling team in Wauconda (yes, that would be Illinois). It had rained briefly and the roads were slick. They were slowing down to turn left when a cyclist in front of Skot started to slide out. This created a domino-effect of falls in which Skot took a face-dive into the pavement. He landed on the lower left corner of his chin. The impact forced his jaw to the right and back which snapped just below an area of the jaw called the condyle. I included a simple little image to assist your imagination. Skot's injury is located more towards the subcondylar line on the image below.




In the emergency room, ice pack in hand. I laugh because Skot says that a lot of friends are saying that his injury looks under-whelming. So I put some fun pictures on here for the dramatic effect. Who knows, maybe they are still under-whelming. Whatever. Forgive the quality, these were all taken with his iPhone.
Skot and his lovely open wound. It was about 1 1/2 - 2 inches across and 1/2 inch deep.
This is the E.R. doctor (Dr. Peeters) giving Skot an injection of Lidocaine. Honestly, I cannot believe how large the gauge of needle he chose to use on my honey's face. I only give intra-oral (in-mouth) injections to my patients (obviously) and use a very small gauge needle - something like a 27 or 30 gauge needle. I can't even begin to guess what size this one was. It was huge.
Skot post-suturing. Notice the blood. This is after the clean-up. The doctor pulled the wound wide open to check for and remove road grit. Between that and the suturing he had the blood dribbling down both sides of his neck. I think he had about 7 exterior sutures and a few gut-sutures deeper in the tissue.
He was such an great sport about this whole process. I would have been crying FOR SURE. He was very calm. Normally I love watching (and participating in) anything medically related. This was a different story. When it is a loved one it becomes a little less "medical" and a bit more emotional.
Great pic of Skot with lovely cheek retractors. The oral surgeon placed brackets on his posterior (back) teeth and then "wired" them together with tight rubber bands. He had a couple brackets pop off over the weekend and his orthodontist friend, (Dr.) David Forbes, was a sweetheart and replaced them.

Hope this answered everyone's questions! Oh, and yes, he was banged-up elsewhere. Some road rash and bruises which look bigger and nasty, but those pale in comparison to the fact that he will be wired shut for 6 weeks.