Hand and wrist complete degloving: A case report and litterature review

Abstract

Complete hand degloving injuries are traumatic avulsion injuries causing the skin to pull away from the underlying tissues and are most often caused by industrial machinery. We present the case of a degloving trauma of the whole fingers, hand, and wrist resulting in a "watch hand" by analogy with the "ring finger" and discuss alternatives and recommendations from the rare cases described of similar traumas. A 33-year-old manual worker, a non-smoker with no significant medical or surgical comorbidities, was admitted for a complete skin avulsion of the left hand and wrist following a work-related accident with a trommel-type industrial roller. Our approach covered the five fingers and the dorsal aspect of the hand and wrist with an artificial dermal matrix, while the palmar side of the hand and wrist was covered with a pedicled groin flap in emergency. At 15months, the patient's sensitivity was classified as S1 on the sensory evaluation scale, joint mobility was less than 30°, and the residual hand retained what we might call "basic" functions, i.e., a counterweight when carrying loads and the ability to pick up and hold a light object in the thumb-index grasp. Complete soft tissue hand defects are exceptional and require urgent treatment. If re-implantation is not possible, combining a dermal matrix with a pedicled flap is a simple salvage solution. The risks of vascular, infectious, and stiffening complications in these traumas are high and must be prevented. Patients must be warned of the severity of the trauma, the need for secondary surgeries to restore a policy-digital grip, and the poor functional results expected.