Definition: Degloving injuries involve the traumatic separation of skin and tissue from the underlying structures, such as muscle, connective tissue, or bone.
Severity: These injuries are often life-threatening due to severe blood loss and potential tissue death.
Commonly Affected Areas: Legs are frequently affected, often in conjunction with underlying fractures.
Causes of Degloving Injuries
Industrial or Farm Equipment Accidents: Frequently associated with such injuries.
Other Causes Include:
Motorcycle accidents
Car accidents
Sports mishaps
Animal bites
Falls from heights
Construction accidents
Types of Degloving Injuries
Open Degloving Injury:
Characterized by exposed muscles and bones due to skin and tissue removal.
Skin may be partially attached, hanging as a flap.
Closed Degloving Injury:
More complex as the skin remains intact but separated from underlying tissue.
Common locations include the top of the hip bone, torso, buttocks, lower spine, shoulder blades, and knees.
Diagnosis of Degloving Injuries
Challenges in Assessment:
Visual assessment alone may not reveal full extent.
Determining skin viability involves subjective criteria such as bleeding, skin color, temperature, and pressure reaction.
Open Injuries: Easier to diagnose due to visible muscle and bone.
Closed Injuries: Harder to identify; symptoms include bruising, pain, and swelling.
Treatments for Degloving Injuries
General Considerations:
Treatment varies based on severity, location, and presence of broken bones.
Complex skin repair is not available at all hospitals; transfer to trauma centers like Tampa General Hospital may be necessary.
Open Degloving Injuries:
Options include skin reattachment, reattachment of fingers/toes, skin grafts, and amputation.
Closed Degloving Injuries:
Less serious cases may use compression bandages and physical therapy.
Serious cases may require fluid drainage, tissue removal, or injections to shrink blood vessels.
Tampa General Hospital
Level I Trauma Center:
Provides comprehensive treatment for adult and pediatric patients.
First hospital in Florida to earn national Level I Trauma Center verification from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).