Ep 220 Facial Injuries: Assessment, Management and Disposition

Ep 220 Facial Injuries: Assessment, Management and Disposition

June 30, 2026 · 1h 43m

About this episode

This episode discusses the assessment and management of facial injuries in emergency medicine, highlighting key pitfalls and necessary interventions.

Facial trauma is common in emergency medicine, but the biggest pitfalls are often not the fractures themselves—they're the threatened airway, vision-threatening ocular injuries, missed septal hematomas, and subtle soft tissue injuries hiding beneath the skin. Which facial fracture is most likely to cause delayed airway obstruction? Why does the physical examination often matter more than the CT scan? Which injuries require urgent consultation or transfer, and which can safely go home? In this episode of EM Cases, Anton is joined by Dr. Jeff Fialkov and Dr. Andrew Petrosoniak for a practical, top-down approach to facial trauma covering airway, bleeding, vision-threatening injuries, fracture assessment, soft tissue injuries, and disposition. Please consider a donation to EM Cases to ensure ongoing high quality Free Open Access Medical Education here: https://emergencymedicinecases.com/donation/

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