Doctor says ‘Chelsea Smile’ is 'one of worst injuries he sees' in the emergency room
A&E brings in all manner of unusual and awful injuries, but some are even more chilling having been purposefully inflicted by another person.
Even among those there are some injuries which are far more calculated, making them even more unpleasant. They might also have a longer impact on the victim.
One doctor has opened up about one injury which they judge to be among the most unpleasant they can encounter in the hospital.
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Naturally your imagination would run wild with all sorts of horrible things at such a suggestion. There are definitely some really unpleasant options there.
However, this one has been singled out as particularly bad by Dr Michael on TikTok. He explained that he thinks this particular injury has some of the most far-reaching effects on people who have it inflicted on them.
So what exactly is this injury which is so utterly unpleasant?
Fair warning, this is going to get pretty unpleasant so if you don't want to read on, this is your chance to look away.
Are we still there? Okay, the injury is is the 'Glasgow Smile', also known as the 'Chelsea Smile'.
This is when a victim is cut from their mouth all the way up to their cheeks. Yes, like the Joker's infamous scars in The Dark Knight.
The result is that the cheek has to be stitched back together again, leaving a horrendous scar.
It is said to have originated in Glasgow and later picked up by English street gangs, especially among the Chelsea Headhunters, a London-based hooligan firm - hence the name.
Dr Michael said that sadly it is something that he has seen a few times while working in the A&E. To make things worse, he even recalled a particularly horrendous way that people would inflict the wound.
This involved using two blades which were separated by a piece of cardboard between them. This would make two cuts at the same time, and presumably leave one bit of cheek hanging loose in the middle making it far more difficult to stitch back together.
What makes it worse is the thought that this is quite a precise injury to inflict on someone. You could just lash out and it happens by chance, but that seems unlikely. To do it 'properly' implies that someone is being restrained when the injury is inflicted.
It also impacts several nerves in the cheeks.
Dr Michael explained: "When you look at the anatomy of the face here, there's things like the facial nerve, the parotid gland, that we need to make sure are not damaged in order to seal this up and make it look good.
"The difficulty is because it's a mobile area, so when you're most moving, it's going to pull on this scar and any tension on a scar tends to make it look more obvious so no matter how good a job you do of this it really doesn't heal very well.
"I guess that's why it's done, to leave a mark and leave a lasting memory in somebody's face. Absolutely disgusting injury."
Kit Roberts