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.