Long-term Management of a Canine Degloving Injury Following Vehicular Trauma
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Degloving injuries of the distal limbs are a fairly common result of vehicular trauma in dogs. While not life threatening on their own, they can be incredibly challenging to manage due to the high skin tension, relative scarcity of tissue in the area, and easily compromised blood supply. This paper will discuss the case of a 4-year-old female mixed breed dog that suffered a full thickness degloving injury of the right thoracic limb with exposed bone after being hit and dragged by a car at high speed. Because this patient suffered a polytrauma, including severe injuries to other limbs, the ability to heal the degloved right thoracic limb became central to her prognosis and future quality of life. Because this wound had to heal by second intention, several adjunctive wound healing therapies, including negative pressure wound therapy and the use of alginate wound dressings, were employed to speed and optimize healing and provide the best chance for the patient to regain full function of the limb.