Causes Of An Epidural Hematoma

An epidural hematoma is a severe medical condition with life-threatening effects on the brain. This condition typically occurs after injury or trauma to a person's head. Your brain might literally bounce against your skull, causing damage to its blood vessels, tissues, and lining, resulting in bleeding. A large mass made of blood will form in the place between your brain's protective covering and skull. An epidural hematoma increases the pressure on a person's brain, causing swelling. The swollen brain then shifts in the person's skull. Continued pressure and brain damage can affect all aspects of a person's life, from their physical well-being to their consciousness.

Physical Abuse or Attack

If a person is a victim of physical abuse, they might be at risk of developing an epidural hematoma. Physical trauma to the head can cause the brain to move around the skull, thus causing bleeding. It's important to note the brain is damaged before the epidural hematoma even forms. However, the hematoma has the potential to make the lasting consequences even worse by opening the victim up to more brain damage.

Victims of domestic violence have an increased risk of developing this medical condition. If you or a loved one has experienced head trauma as a result of domestic violence, you need to contact a medical professional. Besides continued physical abuse, a sudden violent attack can also result in a head injury and subsequently an epidural hematoma. It's all about a blow to the head.

Falls or Clumsiness

Another set of the most common causes of the hematoma are falls or clumsiness. Older adults and physically disabled individuals are at an increased risk of clumsiness or falling. If any individual experiences difficulty walking without falling over, they have a greater chance of experiencing the kind of head trauma that leads to an epidural hematoma.

Blood-thinning medications can also increase a person's risk factor of an epidural hematoma resulting from a fall, especially for the elderly. Frequently, elderly individuals will take blood thinners for medical conditions, and millions of individuals casually take blood thinners like ibuprofen to help with headaches and pain. If you had taken blood-thinning medication before you fell and hit your head, you have a higher chance of developing an epidural hematoma due to the fall, since your blood is more likely to amass in the space between your brain and skull.