What are the risks after the child falls on the face?

Question

Hello doctor,

My little three month old boy fell down on his face from his cozy. Fell from his size in terms of height. We went to the hospital the next day in order to make some checks. The doctor did send us home without doing any scanner. He said it should be fine as there were no bruises, a medical examination was normal and there were no other complications such as vomiting or loss of consciousness. He only was unusually tired in the morning and that is why we made someone check him. Now. The big question is, are there any risks of difficulties in cognitive and psychomotor development in the future. I am worried about the risks of sequelae on the cognitive part. If the risk exists (I guess there is never zero risk), what is the prevalence or percentage of risk? Thanks a lot for your understanding and I thank you in advance for your true and right answer.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com. I read carefully your question and would explain that the risk of developing cognitive disorders or seizures is very low (less than 5 %) if there is no brain damage (in brain MRI). I agree with the doctor for not performing the brain CT scan as there was no loss of consciousness and no vomiting. The fact that his situation has improved is really reassuring that there is no intracranial bleeding or stroke. Anyway, I would recommend as follows performing a brain MRI (as it does not impose the risk of radiation like the computed tomography (CT) scan), just to make sure that everything is fine. It is also important to avoid any possible repeated trauma in the next weeks.