Determination of the corpse's stay in the water duration according to maceration degree of its skin

Abstract

A serious problem during the postmortem examination of a corpse extracted from the water can be a significant determination of its stay in the water duration. First of all, the signs indicating the presence of a corpse in the water include maceration, according to the severity of which forensic experts often determine how long the corpse stayed in the water. The aim of the study is to summarize the available literature data and propose ways to objectify the determination of a corpse's stay in water duration by the severity of skin maceration. In this article, based on the analysis of literature, the process of skin maceration is described, as well as the timing and speed of its development according to various authors. The presence of quite a large number of external and internal factors affecting the process of skin maceration and the subjectivity of its severity assessment is indicated. This article provides examples of the biophysical methods usage for the study of biological objects in forensic medical examination, allowing to objectively record changes in the researcher's parameter of interest. The use of skin impedancemetry to objectify the severity of skin maceration.