Burns of the face in epilepsy: Risk factors and an opportunity for prevention

Abstract

Burns are devastating injuries that may occur during altered levels of consciousness in an epileptic seizure. There is a paucity of literature on the profile of epileptic patients with severe burns of the face. This article reports the avoidable risk factors in burn injuries of the face in patients with epilepsy. A review of the medical records for all burn admissions in patients with epilepsy was undertaken from January 2010 to December 2013. Demographic and clinical data of the patients were collected and analyzed. Grading of facial appearance was based on the classification of facial soft-tissue deformities in post-burn patients by Zan et al. All the patients were female and the mean age was 27 years. Age range was 18 - 35 years. Carbamazepine was the commonest antiepileptic drug utilized. Three patients reported the use of herbal medications in addition to antiepileptic drugs while one patient admitted to the use of only herbal medications. Three of these patients presented with full thickness burns of the face and had Type IV post burn facial deformity. There are trends that accord to female gender, low socioeconomic status and poor adherence to antiepileptic drugs in this study. The use of the electronic media (television and radio) is suggested as an effective strategy to increase awareness.