Oxartis is developing just-in-case technology for severe skin loss
Many patients are people who one day just HAD an accident.…
Nick’s story
It does not take much to be out of action
I was at Durham University studying engineering when I was injured. I worked hard but played hard too. I was heavily involved in the OTC and Rowing whilst captaining the University target shooting team.
I sustained a degloving injury on the back of my left knee, while participating in a running race that involved jumping a crash barrier on the A167. Sadly, my coordination did not extend to clearing the barrier and my knee hooked over the arm-co which turns out to be rather sharp. Initially, the injury didn’t appear to severe, largely because the outer layer of skin remained intact over the damaged area…. and my friends who could see the injury told me to carry on. I don’t know if you have tried to see the back of your knee but it is not easy. Thus, complete the race I did, and in the best stoic tradition, did not immediately get medical attention.
By the time I consulted a GP, the degloved tissue had deteriorated significantly. It had turned a funky shade of blue and black, plus I couldn’t really bend the knee, and things were quite painful. This not only rendered rowing impossible, but even fitting into lecture theatre seats was a challenge. The GP diagnosed a degloving injury, necessitating a very uncomfortable procedure to remove the dead tissue in their surgery. The GP applied a specialized dressing, to prevent healing directly but promote the wound to granularize and rebuild the tissue and encourage proper healing. Over the next two or three months I had to go to the surgery regularly to have the dressing changed.
It was still six months before there was sufficient healing and mobility in the flesh to be able to return to my passion for rowing, and other activities. As mentioned, at the time, I was an avid rower, and the injury took me offline from rowing and made everyday activities, like attending lectures, more difficult due to the limited mobility and pain. The scarring has also left some lasting effects, particularly reduced nerve function and numbness in the area.
The experience has shown how much impact on normal life that even a relatively small skin-loss wound can cause and how vulnerable and incapacitated you are until the wound has fully healed. If there was anything that could have healed me faster it would have made an enormous difference.