Treatment of Horses for Injuries of the Head

Cutaneous wounds of the head of horses are slow to become infected, and even those sutured days after injury are likely to heal by first intention. Wounds of the head are often accompanied by damage to critical structures resulting in facial deformity and disabilities, such as difficult respiration.

Fracture of the facial bones
A horse that has incurred a depression fracture of facial bones may require temporary tracheostomy because this injury is sometimes accompanied by crushing of the nasal conchae or nasal septum resulting in restricted respiration. A recently acquired facial bone fracture over the sinuses can often be reduced with the horse standing by elevating the fragments with a bone hook inserted through a trephine hole created adjacent to the fracture. The fracture can also be elevated with a Kirshner wire, one end of which is bent 90°, inserted through a hole drilled into the depressed fragment. Interdigitation of the reduced fractures with the parent bone produces stability. If the fracture cannot be reduced or stabilised using either of these techniques, the fracture should be exposed, reduced and stabilised through a cutaneous and periosteal flap. Unstable, reduced fragments can be stabilised with sutures or with plates and screws. […]