A degloving injury occurs whenever skin is forcibly removed from any body part. Many workplace degloving injuries affect fingers, hands, legs, and arms, but they can occur to any part of your body.
Degloving injuries are often long-lasting and might cause a partial or full disablement of a body part. Degloving injuries cause soft tissue damage. The injuries often require multiple surgeries and extensive physical therapy.
Degloving injuries can be very painful and are especially dangerous because they are prone to infection. An infection could lead to sepsis, which might cause death if not treated promptly.
A degloving injury is often an open injury that exposes some or all of the musculoskeletal structure beneath the skin and soft tissue. Because of their nature and the many complications that could occur, workers who suffer degloving injuries often miss a significant amount of work while obtaining medical care and recovering from their injuries.
Common Ways in Which Degloving Injuries Occur
A degloving injury usually occurs when a worker has a body part that is trapped between a moving object and a stationary one. Most degloving injuries affect the fingers, hands, or legs.
The musculoskeletal structure usually is left intact, but the surrounding soft tissue suffers extreme trauma. The degloving injury might remove the skin and soft tissue from around an entire appendage, or it might just cause part of the skin to separate and possibly hang loosely.
Some degloving injuries also include a partial or full amputation of a finger or another body part. Degloving injuries are debilitating and cause a lot of pain.
Common Treatments for Degloving Injuries
Degloving injuries are treatable, and many accident survivors eventually resume work after undergoing medical treatment and physical therapy. Degloving injuries are usually treated in the following ways:
- Replacing the skin with skin grafts.
- Reattaching the damaged skin.
- Reattaching injured fingers, toes, or other body parts.
Amputation might be necessary in some situations to limit potential damage and promote rapid healing. The recovery time is often long and could include a variety of supporting treatments to replace the detached or injured skin and soft tissue.
Workers in the manufacturing and construction industries endure the greatest risks of degloving injuries, but they could occur to nearly anyone. Even an office worker might suffer a degloving injury.
Workers’ Compensation for Degloving Injuries
Workers’ Compensation pays for the medical costs and a portion of lost wages. If you suffer a degloving injury while working, your employer must notify the state and provide you with a list of medical care providers.
You will likely miss several days of work and possibly several weeks or months. Workers’ Compensation should pay about two-thirds of your average weekly wages or salary while you are incapable of working due to the degloving injury.
If you run into problems collecting your benefits, an experienced attorney can help.
Delaware County Workers’ Compensation Lawyer at the Law Office of Deborah M. Truscello Fights for the Rights of Injured Workers
If you need help with your claim after a degloving workplace accident, contact our Delaware County Workers’ Compensation lawyer at the Law Office of Deborah M. Truscello. Call us at (610) 892-4940 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation. Located in Media, Pennsylvania, we serve clients in Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Lancaster, Montgomery County, Norristown, Philadelphia, Reading, and West Chester.
