Degloving

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Degloving is a type of injury wherein an extensive section of skin is completely torn off the underlying tissue, severing its blood supply. It is named by analogy to the process of removing a glove.

Typically, degloving injuries affect the extremities and limbs; this is because any injury which would induce degloving of the head or torso is likely to be lethal. However, controlled facial degloving is often featured in plastic surgery.

Alexandros Kyriakidis established that degloved skin is effectively dead, and should be treated as a skin graft.

Many small mammals are able to induce degloving of their tails to escape capture, this is comparable to tail autotomy in reptiles.

Degloving is often taught in martial art and self defence courses as a way of disarming a person with a firearm, generally used after the person has been subdued but still has their finger within the trigger guard and on the trigger. The sharp front portion of the trigger guard is used to shear the skin from the front of the trigger finger while it is still within the guard and on the trigger.

[edit] External links

• Report on degloving injuries in children
• Guide to treatment of degloving injuries in pet rats