Degloving Injuries

One of the worst injuries a person can suffer in a car accident is a “degloving” injury. Another word for degloving is “avulsion,” although we think degloving makes the injury sound clear. Imagine the hand is a glove, and you peel off the glove. The grisly image in your mind is exactly what a degloving injury is.

With an avulsion, the skin and subcutaneous tissue are pulled off a limb, such as a hand, foot, arm, or leg, leaving behind muscle and bone. Degloving injuries are very hard to treat and can often result in an amputation, especially where the bones have been injured.

At our firm, we sometimes see degloving injuries stemming from car or motorcycle accidents. If you have been injured, or if someone you care about has, please contact us. We can begin fighting to get you compensation.

Types of Degloving Injuries

There are primarily two types:

• Open degloving. The skin is pulled away from the rest of the body and is either hanging by a flap or has been completely severed.

• Closed degloving. A space opens up between the top layer of skin and underlying tissue. These type of “closed” injuries are often hard to see; however, fluid can build up in the lesion underneath the skin. These injuries usually happen in the hip bone area.

Both open and closed injuries are serious and warrant medical treatment to minimize damage.

Treating a Degloving Injury

Treatment can be complicated and depends on the type and location of your injury. If you have a closed injury, then a doctor will focus on draining fluid and removing dead tissue.

An open degloving injury presents additional problems; primarily, reattaching the skin. If a large amount of skin has been removed, then you might need to be taken to a hospital that specializes in treatment. Many open degloving accidents are treated with skin grafts from other areas of the body if the original skin cannot be re-attached. Many people need multiple surgeries.

Recovery from an open degloving injury often includes physical therapy so that you can learn to use the limb again. This is particularly true if you suffered a degloving injury on your hand.

Compensation

If someone else is responsible for your injury, then you might be able to sue. In a car accident, that could be another driver who struck you or who forced you from the road.

Treating an open degloving injury can be enormously expensive, and you should pursue all avenues of compensation to cover medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If you ultimately lose your affected limb, you could suffer extreme emotional distress, which also warrants compensation.

Contact a Volusia County Car Accident Lawyer

It is best to get started on your case as soon as possible. One advantage of hiring an attorney is that you can focus on getting well while your lawyer deals with the tedious legal work. Degloving injuries can have long recovery times, and you need to focus 100% on getting well.

Give Bundza & Rodriguez a call, 386-252-5170. Our Daytona Beach motorcycle accident attorneys offer a free consultation during which we can discuss your case.

Resource:

www.healthline.com/health/degloving