Facial Burns: A One Year Audit at a Tertiary Hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Facial burn injuries have plagued mankind since time immemorial and till the present day, they remain among the major public health problems. Since the face carries the identity of an individual, it is the most psychologically significant area of the body. Therefore, any disfigurement to the face such as that caused by burns has potential psychosocial consequences to the victim. The present study aimed at determining the etiology, pattern of occurrence and management of facial burns among patients attended at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam Tanzania. Material and Methods: This was a one-year prospective study of all consecutive patients with facial burns who attended treatment at the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH). The variables examined included socio-demographic characteristics, etiology, clinical features and management of facial burns. The data were analyzed using SPSS software for windows version 23 (IBM Corporation Chicago, IL, USA). Fisher’s t-test was used and associations were considered significant when p < 0.05. Results: A total of 112 patients with body burn injuries were attended during the period of this study where by 29.5% of the patients had burn injuries to the facial region. The male to female ratio was 2:1 and patient’s age ranged from 17 to 70 years, with a mean age of 30.6 (SD 12.3) years. The etiological factors included open fire that affected (78.8%) of the patients followed by scalding (12.1%) and electricity (9.1%). Majority (81.8%) of the burn injuries were accidental in nature. The most frequently burnt facial aesthetic zones were the zygomatic region followed by the orbits. More than 80% of the participants had complications where by hypo-pigmentation was the commonest (51%) complication of burn injuries encountered. Conclusion: Facial burns affected males twice more than females. Open fire was the most common etiological factor and the zygoma was the most frequently affected facial esthetic zone. Majority of the patients had complications due to burn injury, of which the facial skin hypo-pigmentation was the commonest followed by death.