Treatment of extensive avulsions of skin and subcutaneous tissues

This article deals with the treatment of extensive avulsion injuries. Five out of twenty-eight cases of extensive avulsion injuries are presented and illustrated. All of these injuries were caused by machinery or automobile accidents and were encountered in the three-year period from 1972 to 1975. Etiology, pathology, and treatment with mechanical and chemical debridement, porcine skin grafts, fasciotomy, delayed primary closure, stamp or mesh skin grafts, and skin flaps are detailed and discussed.