OBJECTIVE: To identify the pattern of degloving injuries of the lower limb to help in designing a management protocol for such injuries.DESIGN: Descriptive study.PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar over a period of 3 years from September 1998 to August 2001.SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Fifty patients with degloving injuries of the lower limb were included, type, cause, extent and location of degloving injury was identified in all of them.RESULTS: Majority of the patients were males (74%) with a median age of 14 years. The most common cause of trauma was roadside accidents (96%). Left lower limb involvement was more common (72%). Sixty-six per cent of the cases sustained trauma to the leg. The type of degloving injury observed more frequently was open degloving in 94% of the patients. Fifty one percent patients had proximally attached degloved skin.CONCLUSION: The pattern of degloving injuries of the lower limb emerging from this study will help clinicians to identify the pattern of these injuries and develop a management protocol.
Adolescent Adult