Blow to head and possible hematoma

Hello, @victoriav110, and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Sounds like you were in quite a car accident with hitting your head and developing a dent and a hematoma. It also sounds as though you are not feeling comfortable with the urgent care recommendation against a CT scan.

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I'm hoping that members who have been involved in this discussion, "Blow to head and possible hematoma," will return and offer their insights on CT scans and whether the dent in your forehead will go away with time, like @janneg @hopeful33250 and @david33. I'd also like to bring in @jenniferhunter and @lakelifelady @treyaj @kobeelya for their insights.

@victoriav110 - have you had the chance to speak to your primary care doctor about a visit to follow up on your injuries from the car accident? If so, what did he or she recommend?

@victoriav110 My suggestion would be to consult your regular physician or a neurologist who specializes in problems with the nervous system. Any time a person hits their head, there's a possibility of a bleed in the brain, and that can become evident a day later and be fatal. There are news stories about people who think they are fine after head trauma, and they die later. That's why it's important to watch a person and not allow them to sleep after an impact to the head. I'm not suggesting that happened to you, but without imaging, it goes undetected. The doctors should look for problems with abnormally dilated pupils in response to light to look for brain injuries. When you have an elderly person in a nursing home who falls and hits their head, they are sent for a CT scan right away. My dad had a traumatic brain injury from a skull fracture that affected him the rest of his life so I take these things seriously. The brain is floating in fluid inside the skull kind of like the yolk inside a raw egg, and the brain will contact the skull during a serious impact. The brain itself is soft like jello. It sounds like you are functioning well and it's been 2 weeks, but I can't offer an opinion on benefits of a CT scan now at 2 weeks since I'm not a doctor. It is expensive and you might have trouble with insurance coverage if you don't have symptoms that would qualify it as medically necessary. That's a question for a doctor. If you had insisted at the Urgent care, or gone elsewhere at that time, they may have done it.

The skull is also jointed, and the joints could have shifted a bit from the impact, and also been affected by muscle spasms that connect the neck and skull. A physical therapist who does cranial sacral work could assess that in case the dent is an alignment problem. I suppose it's possible it's a skin compression issue with compressed fascia, and myofascial release might help, essentially stretching the skin to the barrier and holding it until it gives and releases. You can see myofascialrelease.com for information.

Hi @victoriav110 - how are you doing? Did you end up having a CT scan?