a “Dupont” injury for the PSG goalkeeper? What the medical examinations will have to check

Hit in the face on Wednesday after a collision with Wilfried Singo, Gianluigi Donnarumma will take exams this Thursday. Behind the impressive wounds, the medical service will seek to determine whether the facial and cervical bones are affected.

Behind the impressive wounds, a more serious injury? Gianluigi Donnarumma will undergo examinations this Thursday afternoon the day after the violent involuntary jab inflicted by Wilfried Singo on his right cheek during the Monaco-PSG match (2-4) on Wednesday. According to Doctor Alain Ducardonnet, health consultant for BFMTV, the medical profession will seek to determine if the goalkeeper suffers from injuries other than those apparent on the surface. With a particular look at the malar bone but also the cervical vertebrae.

“The blow made his head spin”

“It’s the malar bone, the one which is just under the orbit, under the eye,” he explains. “Obviously, it rubbed almost from the ear to above the nose. The blow made his head turn suddenly so that means we need to check the facial bones. The point of impact corresponds to the area where Dupont was hit.”

The sports doctor thus refers to Antoine Dupont, scrum half of the French XV victim of a maxillo-zygomatic fracture during the 2023 World Cup after a violent head-to-head collision against Namibia. The player had a titanium plate fitted before returning to competition three weeks later. Donnarumma is already out of the Coupe de France match in Lens, and his absence could extend.

“It all depends on the importance of the injury,” explains Alain Ducardonnet.

“I think there will be nothing because it’s really on the surface. But we have to check that (the facial bones) and the cervicals. As the movement was a little brutal depending on the position of the head, it is also necessary to check that the cervical muscles have not suffered. This is part of the classic assessment of a trauma – which is not a head trauma in the sense that there is no risk to the brain – but. in relation to the facial and cervical bones The rest. will heal.”

Will the Italian international present an imposing scar when he returns to the field? “If the stitches are normally done well, no,” he adds. “There may be a very small scar. The memory I had when I was on the Tour de France is that athletes heal wonderfully well. As they are hyper-trained, they have an immune system, a system defense which is particularly effective and they heal faster and often much better than the average person.”

The false controversy of staples

As for the controversy arising from the publication of the photo of the ten staples placed on the face of Gianluigi Donnarumma, which provoked some ridicule on social networks, some being surprised at the lack of application for this medical procedure, Doctor Ducardonnet does not He has nothing to complain about. The Italian goalkeeper was also stitched up this Thursday morning.

“If we have no other points of alert, when there is an injury, a lesion and the skin is cut, the more we glue the edges of the wound, the faster it heals. Second point, if we close these things quickly, it prevents them from getting infected.”

“It’s the most classic process. Was it necessary to put staples or stitches? I don’t know. It all depends on the damage because if it’s a clean cut we do stitches. But if it’s it’s a dilapidated place with small pieces of skin that have come off, the staples help hold the place in place better. “It was to prevent there being a secondary infection, it’s not at all abnormal to do that. . We mainly do nicely done stitches afterwards, to make the healing beautiful.”