When you suffer from a blow to the head, you have to worry about the possibility of fractures along with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Though you can suffer from TBIs without a skull fracture, most fractures come with brain trauma of some sort.
To that end, it would benefit you to understand how skull fractures manifest. This identification can allow you to act quickly.
Merck Manual looks into the ways that skull fractures may manifest. In specific, they often show signs in both physical and mental or behavioral symptoms, often with an overlap in the two categories.
For strictly physical signs, you should look around the hollows of the skull, where blood from intracranial hemorrhaging will often collect. This blood often gathers behind the ears or around the eyes, creating the appearance of bruising. You should also keep an eye out for clear fluid leaking from the nose or ears, which could be cerebrospinal fluid leaking from penetrated areas of the skull.
Neurological signs often result in physical reactions, too. For example, when the brain undergoes trauma or suffers from damage, it often manifests in physical symptoms like:
Mentally, victims often struggle to identify their surroundings or the people they are with. Confusion and aggression may also occur and could potentially worsen in a short span of time. Any of these signs could indicate the presence of a fracture and require immediate medical intervention to prevent permanent damage from occurring.
