operation, regulations, risks… Five questions about Kylian Mbappé’s nose injury

The captain of the Blues fractured his nose after a collision with Kevin Danso during the France-Austria match on Monday.

This is the black point of the Blues’ successful return to the Euro. Kylian Mbappé had to give up his place in the 90th minute after a violent collision with Austrian defender Kevin Danso, Monday June 17, in Düsseldorf (Germany). The images of his bloodied and broken nose went around the world and raised a lot of questions. We take stock.

Can you play at a high level with a broken nose?

“It’s possible”, has declared, Tuesday June 18, on franceinfo Jean-Pierre Paclet, former doctor of the French football team. According to him, “if the circulation in both nasal cavities goes well, we can play.” For example, during the 2002 World Cup, Japanese defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto managed to play with a face shield after fracturing his nose a few days before the competition.

However, Kylian Mbappé’s level of performance could suffer the consequences. Indeed, a fracture of the nose causes pain but above all edema “which prevents you from breathing well and difficult nights, which will worsen your state of fatigue”specifies Edouard Lipka, ex-doctor of the Blues.

Can the injury get worse?

As specified by the French Football Federation (FFF) in a press release published on the night of Monday to Tuesday, Kylian Mbappé should return to the pitch with a mask. A “suitable protection” which should prevent him from aggravating his injury, according to Jean-Pierre Paclet and Edouard Lipka. Zero risk does not exist. Joined by RMC Sport, plastic surgeon Michael Benoilid clarified that by playing again Kylian Mbappé would take the risk of “reshift the divide”.

Is the operation essential?

This was the fear of the French team staff. But Kylian Mbappé is, for the moment, exempt from surgery. And for good reason. According to doctor Edouard Lipka, “s‘there is no major damage, which seems to be the case, the operation is not obligatory, especially since regarding the displacement of the nasal septum, the doctor had to put his nose back in the axis, he analyzes. In this type of case, immediate operation is rare, because surgeons prefer to wait four to five days for the edema to resolve before operating. continues the ex-member of the Blues staff.

If he felt the need, Kylian Mbappé could also have surgery later, “in five, six months”, specifies Edouard Lipka. The captain of the Blues, whose Euro would be over in the event of immediate operation, would not then be the first footballer to postpone the date of a surgical intervention in order to continue playing. After fracturing his nose on April 27 against Caen, AS Saint-Etienne midfielder Mathieu Cafaro returned to training and decided to have surgery at the end of the season, in order to participate to the rise of the Greens in Ligue 1.

How is the wearing of a mask regulated?

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body which determines the rules of football, remains quite vague on the issue. Only one thing is certain, wearing a mask is authorized, as mentioned in article 4.4. “Non-hazardous protection, such as gloves, helmets, face masks, knee and elbow pads made of soft, lightweight and padded materials are permitted, as are goalkeeper caps and sports glasses.”. In the tournament regulations, defined by UEFA, the wearing of a mask is not mentioned. The latter is therefore ultimately poorly supervised.

HAS what would Mbappé’s mask look like?

This is the question that set the web ablaze on Monday. Under the tweet of the person himself, the proposals flowed. If the Ninja Turtle mask is obviously one of the most popular, Kylian Mbappé will have to opt for a more sober model, like the one worn by Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka against Lens, in March, when he was suffering from a nasal fracture without deviation of the nasal septum.

The mask of the future Real Madrid player should, however, be a little different because the FFF suggested in its press release that it would be custom-made.