Electric scooters account for 10% of facial fractures requiring surgery at Vall d'Hebron hospital

Electric scooters are responsible for 10% of the facial fractures that require surgery at Vall d'Hebron.

According to a study by the Plastic Surgery and Burns Department, 12 out of 119 patients who underwent surgery for facial fractures between 2020 and 2024 had been involved in an accident while using an electric scooter.

Physical assaults and traffic accidents, each accounting for 24 patients, remain the most frequent causes of facial fractures.

However, patients injured in electric scooter accidents tend to be younger and require more complex surgical interventions.

Such harm could be mitigated through preventive measures, such as the use of full-face helmets that protect the jaw, according to the authors of the study, which was presented this Friday.

The severity and complication rates of the injuries are comparable to those resulting from high-speed traffic accidents. The difference is that users are frequently thrown forward during a fall.

As detailed in the report, the impact is concentrated on the face. At speeds exceeding 20km/h, even the most robust facial bone structures, such as the jaw, can fracture if proper protection is lacking.

Dr. Bernat López-Masramon, who led the study alongside Dr. Alexander Lugilde-Guerbek, explained that while facial injuries requiring surgery do not constitute the majority of cases, they can lead to long-term functional or aesthetic impairments in young people.

Among the issues are future problems with sight, persistent pain in the temporomandibular joint connecting the lower jaw to the skull, and malocclusion, commonly known as 'bad bite', among others.

 

Patients injured in electric scooter accidents are younger than those involved in the other types of incidents covered by the study, with a mean age of 27.9 years, compared to a mean age of 40.6 years for the rest.

Consequently, they required shorter hospital stays (an average of 7.7 days versus 16.7 days) and less time in the ICU. Only two patients ended up in intensive care (16.7% of the total), compared to 49 patients from the other injury categories (45.8%).