If you slip and fall, you could hit your head against the ground or another hard object. This could result in a head injury. Head injuries can range in severity; many are minor, but some can be serious and potentially life-threatening.
Johns Hopkins Medicine describes two types of head injuries that you could sustain as the result of a slip-and-fall injury: intracranial hematoma and skull fracture.
Intracranial hematoma
Blood cells can stick together to form a clot. This helps to prevent you from losing too much blood in the event of an injury. However, clots can form anywhere that blood collects and do not always promote healing. A large clot that forms in the skull is an intracranial hematoma. According to the Mayo Clinic, it can be dangerous to you because of the pressure it can put on the brain.
Skull fracture
A skull fracture is a break in the bone that surrounds your brain. The impact from a fall may be enough to fracture the skull, and in some cases, the injury can also put the brain at risk.
The most common type of skull fracture, and often the least serious, is a linear fracture. This causes a break in the bone of your skull but does not displace any fragments. The most serious type of skull fracture is one that occurs at the base of your skull because it can allow the fluid that surrounds your brain to leak out. Another type of skull fracture is a depressed fracture in which the broken portion collapses in toward your brain.
A skull fracture can also give rise to an intracranial hematoma. Therefore, it is possible for you to sustain both types of injuries from the same fall.