Omaha Degloving Injury Lawyers

Suffered from a Degloving Injury in Omaha?

Degloving is a serious injury that occurs when the top layers of skin and tissue are ripped from the body, exposing underlying muscle, tissue, or bone. Degloving injuries can be life-threatening because they involve heavy blood loss and tissue death. When it involves deep wounds, degloving carries a high risk of infection. Emergency medical treatment can minimize the risk by ensuring the wound is thoroughly cleaned.

Call Bottlinger Law L.L.C. at (402) 505-8234 to set up a free consultation with an Omaha degloving injury attorney.

What Are Types of Degloving Injuries?

There are two main types of degloving:

Open Degloving

When the skin and tissue are ripped away and muscle, connective tissue, or bone are exposed, it is open degloving. The skin may remain partially attached near the wound. Open degloving injuries can be caused by traffic crashes, falls from heights, accidents with equipment, animal bites, and sports injuries. They most commonly affect the legs, torso, scalp, and face, but any body part can sustain open gloving injuries, including the fingers, arms, and feet.

Closed Degloving

These injuries are not always visible, making them more difficult to diagnose. There may be a bruise in some cases, with no other visible symptoms. Closed degloving is usually diagnosed with an MRI. This type of injury often involves force that separates the top skin layer from the deeper layers, creating a space in between. This space can fill with lymphatic fluid, blood, and fat.

Closed degloving injuries are caused by the same types of accidents that cause open degloving. They occur most frequently at the top of the hip bone. Closed degloving can also occur on the shoulder blades, torso, lower spine, buttocks, and knees. When left untreated, it can lead to severe tissue death.

What Are Treatment Option for Degloving Injuries?

Degloving treatment depends on the type of degloving and the location and severity of the injury. When degloving occurs, the victim often sustains another serious injury, such as a bone fracture, that requires emergency medical treatment. Availability of treatment is a factor. Not all emergency centers can provide advanced trauma treatment involving complex skin repair.

Open Degloving Treatment

You may need to transfer to a trauma center for more advanced treatment of open degloving injuries. The type of treatment will depend on the amount of remaining skin. Options include:

• Reattaching the skin
• Skin grafting
• Reattachment of a digit
• Amputation

All of these treatment options involve multiple surgeries. Your hospital stay could last for days or weeks. You may need physical therapy to regain use of the body part that was injured. Treatment for open degloving can be extensive – and extremely costly.

Closed Degloving Treatment

For minor closed degloving, you may only need compression bandages, rest, and physical therapy. With a severe case, your treatment may involve:

• Draining fluid from the area
• Removing dead tissue
• Sclerotherapy (injecting medications into blood vessels to make them shrink)

Although treatment for closed degloving is not likely to be as extensive as open degloving treatment, it can still be expensive and may require time away from work.

Recovering Compensation for Degloving

If someone else caused your degloving injuries, you may have a personal injury claim for compensation. Damages you may be entitled to claim include your past and future medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning potential, and pain and suffering.

The first step is to speak with an experienced Omaha personal injury attorney. Bottlinger Law L.L.C. has the knowledge and experience to effectively pursue the best possible results. We are compassionate listeners and effective litigators who have been providing real people with real solutions since 2006.

Call us at (402) 505-8234 to set up a free consultation. We can advise you of your options under the law.