Gail Porter receiving treatment ‘6 months’ after fracturing skull due to ‘seizure’

Skull fractures are essentially a break in the skull bone, and can either be mild or severe. While mild breaks can cause few problems and heal over time, severe breaks can lead to complications including bleeding, brain damage, leaking of cerebrospinal fluid, infection and seizures.

UC Health explains that there are four main types of skull fractures that vary in severity. These include:

• Linear skull fracture. This is a break in the bone, but the bone does not move out of place.
• Depressed skull fracture. Part of the skull bone is sunken in from the injury. In many cases, this needs treatment with surgery.
• Skull base fracture. This is a break in the bone at the bottom of the skull. It can be a serious type of skull fracture. You may have bruises around your eyes and a bruise behind your ear that appears one to three days later. You may also have cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) draining from your nose or ears. This is because of a tear in part of the covering of the brain. This type of break often needs surgery right away.
• Penetrating skull fracture. This is a break from something going through the bone, such as a bullet, blade, or blast fragments. This often causes severe injury and bleeding in the brain. It needs treatment right away with surgery.

After sustaining a skull fracture, individuals may experience a wide array of symptoms, that can include anything from confusion to a visible swelling on the head. Other symptoms to look out for include:

• Confusion.
• Dizziness.
• Poor memory.
• Feeling very tired.
• Headache.
• Bleeding from the head.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Loss of consciousness.
• Seizures.

If you or someone you know experiences any of the above symptoms, or are at risk of having a fractured skull, it is important to seek medical advice, who will typically suggest individuals have MRI scans or a CT scan to show the area of broken bone, identify injuries to the brain and create images of tissue in the body.