Barbed Suture as a Treatment Approach in Complex Degloving Injuries

Abstract

In the late 19th century, French physician Morel-Lavallée was challenged with a group of patients who sustained similar patterns of degloving injuries, which today carry his eponym. In 1853, he reported a series of cases as well as proposed strategies for the management of these complex degloving injuries. Treatment strategies have not varied significantly over the years, and these lesions continue to plague surgeons today with failure rates in excess of 50%. We present 2 case series using barbed suture in the management of these complex injuries.

Effect of ethanolic extracts from Piperaceae leaves on the reduction of skin necrosis and wound healing in an animal model of degloving injuries

“…In this case, friction with the moving wheel causes the skin to detach from the deep planes, leading to degloving, which can occur in the subcutaneous, subfascial, submuscular planes or even in multiple planes 2 . For these reasons, the association of degloving with trauma of multiple tissues, such as bone fractures, nerve and muscle injuries and crush syndrome are also common 3 . Thus, degloving injuries constitute a unique category of trauma because they present multiple morbidity mechanisms: the wound itself, leading to the continuity solution, tissue trauma, loss of skin coverage, devitalization of tissues, leading to increased likelihood of infection and reperfusion injury 4 .…”