Interviewer: You think you got a concussion? Go see a doctor, and here's why. Dr. Greg Hawryluk is a neurosurgeon and a concussion expert.
Dr. Hawryluk: One of the big things that we need to do after a concussion is to make sure that it's not something more serious. A lot of times, we think that these are pretty minor injuries, but the reality is, and fortunately it's rare, but these can be sometimes very serious. Sometimes there can be bleeding in the head. Sometimes you need to see a neurosurgeon so we really want to make sure that you don't fall into that category.
And the other thing is that there's this thing we call second impact syndrome. And this is more common in young patients, where they get a second injury a short time after the first one and it can lead to fatal brain swelling. Another major benefit of seeing a doctor is that we can help to guide you through a pretty well established six-step process that has been shown to really achieve symptom resolution and a return to normal activities as quickly as possible.
updated: June 21, 2021
originally published: January 16, 2019
