Glove-like hand: A case of severe-circumferential hand degloving injury

Abstract

While limb amputations are a common and routine procedure for hand surgery, degloving injuries to the hand and fingers are less common and challenging for many surgeons. For degloving injuries which mostly result in limb loss, amputation has been recommended in previous studies and established classification systems, if there is a total avulsion injury. In this article, we present a replantation case in which all difficult microsurgical techniques were used in an injury where four fingers were degloved like a glove and accompanied by a second-degree burn that would prevent flap applications along the dorsum of the forearm. We also performed a detailed analysis of a rare clinical image. In conclusion, many treatment options have been described for degloving injuries, such as flaps and skin-grafting, the most optimal functional and cosmetic results can be achieved with replantation. Therefore, the first option should be replantation, if possible, but in case of failure, other surgical options should be evaluated without delay.