Degloving is a serious injury that you can suffer in a motor vehicle or industrial accident. There are significant costs and physical effects associated with this injury to your skin.
If someone else was to blame it for your degloving injury or any other losses associated with the accident, you can hold them legally accountable. They may owe you significant financial compensation for your injuries.
First, you need help from an experienced attorney. Reach out to Horton & Mendez Injury Attorneys to discuss your case with a skilled personal injury lawyer in Gastonia, NC. Initial consultations are free.
When You Can Suffer a Degloving Injury
Degloving is a serious skin injury that can lead to major complications in the short and long run.
It occurs when a large chunk of skin is ripped from the connecting muscle and tissue. Degloving injuries occur in a variety of accidents, including:
- Machinery accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Car accidents
- Serious falls
You may have suffered a degloving injury in a motorcycle accident. When a motorcycle rider is thrown from the vehicle, it may skid across the pavement. In some cases, this could lead to road rash. In more serious instances, skidding on a hard surface could lead to degloving.
Where Degloving Injuries Occur
These injuries can occur on any part of your body that makes contact with another surface or sharp edge. Most often, degloving injuries occur on your extremities. It is possible to suffer degloving injuries to other parts of your body, including:
- Shoulders
- Hips
- Torso
- Backside
Each type of degloving injury can present its own complications. The damage to the skin could also cause nerve damage, which could restrict your movement and cause you to lose the full usage of various body parts. In other cases, you could be left with significant and ongoing pain, which may never fully go away.
Types of Degloving Injuries
Degloving injuries vary in severity. Types of degloving injuries include:
Open degloving
This type of energy occurs when your skin is entirely ripped away, exposing muscle and bone.
Your skin could be largely perforated but hanging on only by a very small flap. This type of injury is very serious, and it can even be life-threatening if you develop a serious infection that progresses to sepsis.
Closed degloving
Your skin may not entirely be ripped, but you could have an internal injury that has led to significant skin damage. You could have internal bleeding that keeps the skin from getting the blood that it needs to survive. The surface of your skin may look swollen, but you could have no idea of the extent of the damage beneath it. There may be a cavity under your skin that has filled with blood, lymph fluid, and liquefied fat.
Treating Degloving Injuries
If you notice any significant injury to your skin, you should see a doctor immediately. Moments matter here. Prompt treatment for a degloving injury is crucial for you to have a chance at the fullest possible recovery.
In the immediate short-term, since you had a potentially open wound, you are at risk of a major infection. Accident victims could begin to develop an infection within days after their initial injury.
It is crucial that you seek medical treatment, both to clean the wound and to prevent further infection. In addition, you could suffer permanent nerve damage from a serious degloving injury.
Initially, a doctor may decide to reattach as much of the skin as possible. They may be forced to remove some of the skin to keep you from developing an infection, especially when there is no chance to save it.
In severe cases, the doctor may need to amputate a body part when there is an infection risk and little to no chance of recovery. If you have had a body part severed because of a serious skin injury, a doctor may perform surgery to reattach it.
After the scope and extent of the injury have become apparent, a doctor may decide to perform a skin graft or attach a skin flap. A patient may need multiple skin grafts to repair the damage to the fullest extent possible. A skin graft can be an expensive and painful procedure with a long recovery time and significant pain and suffering.
Compensation for a Degloving Injury
Degloving injuries could lead to significant financial compensation as long as you are able to prove that someone else was to blame for the accident.
First, you may be entitled to payment for scarring and disfigurement. If your skin is not able to fully heal from a degloving injury, you could be left with scars, often in prominent places, that change your appearance. In addition, you may need plastic surgery or other medical procedures for you to heal to the fullest extent possible. The cost of these procedures and the associated pain and suffering are all compensable.
Further, you may be left with permanent nerve damage that impairs the function of the body part that has sustained the degloving injury. The damage could cause you to be unable to work or perform the type of duties that you were doing before the injury. Then, you could qualify for lost wages as part of your settlement or award.
An experienced personal injury lawyer knows how to value all aspects of your claim fully. If you have suffered a catastrophic degloving injury, chances are that you have also sustained numerous other personal injuries. It is crucial that you know how much your claim is worth before you begin settlement negotiations or file a lawsuit in court.
Contact a North Carolina Personal Injury Lawyer Today
If you have suffered a degloving injury or any other physical effects of an accident, you need immediate legal representation.
Schedule a free initial consultation with the experienced lawyers at Horton & Mendez Injury Attorneys today. You can speak with an attorney by calling us today at 910-405-7751 or messaging us online. We do hospital visits, so we can come to you when you cannot physically come to our offices to get help.
