Degloving Injuries in Animals

A degloving injury occurs when the animal completely tears away tissue from a structure on the body. The most common areas where this type of injury occurs include the extremities and the tail. The injury may be caused from a fight with another animal, mechanically caused, or barbed wire fencing. Either way, it is an extremely painful injury and can take a very long time to heal. So how is degloving injury treated? When the veterinarian and technicians are presented with such an injury, they typically will take your pet to the back of the hospital immediately. While there, if there is bleeding from torn blood vessels, they will try to stop the bleeding.

Next, the degloved zone will need to be thoroughly cleaned. Prior to flushing, the veterinarian may apply a topical local block to prevent any pain from the flushing/repair. Once the area is flushed, a solution of betadine and saline are usually used to clean the area of any bacteria. With an open wound like this comes an increased risk to infection. Once the area is clean, it will then be dried. Now, how does a wound like this heal? Well, your veterinarian will most likely apply a sugar wrap to the site.

The veterinarian will literally pour sugar all over the area. Yes, regular granulated white sugar is used during this process. So why is sugar used? Sugar acts as a natural antibiotic preventing any bacteria from growing at the exposed site. Sugar also stimulates healthy tissue growth in a process called tissue granulation. In a degloving injury, this process may need to be repeated over a month or two. Once the tissue has healed, it may take a long time before you see any hair growth or very healthy tissue. The most important thing when treating a wound like this is ensuring that the area does not become infected and looking for any necrosis of areas. Necrosis is tissue death, which is something that you do not want to see on a degloving injury when trying to heal. Just remember to be patient with the recovery and know that it will take time for it to heal completely. When this type of injury occurs, just remember that you should immediately take your pet to the emergency animal clinic or to your veterinarian's office. In some cases, your pet will need to be anesthetized depending on the severity of the wound.