Severe facial rubber bullet injuries: Less lethal but extremely harmful weapons

Abstract

Less-lethal rubber-bullet weapons are designed to induce blunt injuries that incapacitate violent individuals. Aim and scope We intend to study the functional and aesthetic impairments and the cost in terms of social health resulting from rubber-bullet facial trauma. Materials and methods We retrospectively collected all the facial trauma cases caused by mass-appeal, less-lethal guns followed up in two French university hospitals since the year 2000. We did not consider the facial injuries caused by professional, less-lethal, rubber or plastic bullet guns. Conclusion We showed that mass-appeal, less-lethal rubber-bullet guns induce severe traumas with irreversible functional consequences and long-term social implications. Victims of facial rubber-bullet traumas should be managed like high-energy trauma patients and benefit from extremely careful primary wound care.