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Distinct Pattern Discovered In Domestic Violence Victims

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 08:25 CST

A distinct pattern of facial injury has emerged in women who are victims of domestic violence, according to a new report.

The findings are published in the January/February issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.

Surgeons and other physicians hope the findings will help them recognize patients who are victims of this type of abuse that hurts 25 percent to 33 percent of American women.

"Because intimate partner violence accounts for 34 percent to 73 percent of facial injuries in women, facial plastic surgeons and other health care providers who treat patients with maxillofacial injuries are in a unique position to identify these victims and refer them to local domestic violence service programs for safety planning, information and referrals, support services and advocacy, depending on the victims' needs and choices," the authors wrote in the new study.

Researchers found intimate partner assaults cause higher than expected fractures of the cheekbones and eye sockets and more brain injuries.

The team studied the medical and dental records of 326 women who were treated for facial trauma at the University of Kentucky Medical Center between 1998 and 2004.

Of the 45 patients who were assault victims, more than 40% were victims of domestic violence. While 24 of the remaining 26 assault victims could not or did not identify their assailant.

Other common causes of injury included motor vehicle crashes, falls, and unknown or undocumented causes.

Surgeons found higher than expected rates of cracks or breaks in the bones surrounding the eye. They also observed more frequent fractures of the cheekbones and about double the rate of brain injuries.

Dr Oneida Arosarena, who led the research said, "The purpose of the study was to make doctors aware of what to look for. Particularly with women who return with multiple injuries, some in different stages of healing."

She said it was not always possible to diagnose abuse by finding out how the injury was caused.

"We had a lot of patients who reported their injuries as due to falls - 22%. And we questioned whether that was the actual mechanism of injury. Women still feel there's a social stigma to reporting domestic abuse."

Barrie Evans, President of the Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, said,  "This study could help doctors and nurses to realize that inter-partner violence can be a possibility when they come across these kinds of injuries."

"What is important in any patient who sustains a facial or indeed any injury as a result of an assault, is for the doctor to obtain an adequate history of the circumstances."

"My concern with this paper is that we are dealing with a small sample...Secondly, if surgeons concentrated on patients with cheekbone, eye socket and brain injuries, patients with jaw fractures which were the result of an assault by a partner could conceivably be overlooked".

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On the Net:

• Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery
• University of Kentucky Medical Center
• Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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