What Does Degloving Mean?

Degloving, also called avulsion, is a type of severe injury that happens when the top layers of your skin and tissue are ripped from the underlying muscle, connective tissue, or bone. It can affect any body part, but it's more common in the legs. Degloving injuries are often life-threatening.

What is a degloving injury mean?

INTRODUCTION. Degloving soft-tissue injuries are a form of avulsion of soft tissue, in which an extensive portion of skin and subcutaneous tissue detaches from the underlying fascia and muscles. Such injuries can affect every part of the body, but in particular the limbs, trunk, scalp, face, and genitalia [Figure 1].

How do degloving injuries occur?

Causes of Degloving Injuries

Degloving occurs when the outer layer of the skin is forcefully pulled but the underlying tissue is not. Eventually, the skin will stretch so far that it will detach from the lower layers of tissue and lead to a degloving injury.