References
Skin tears: causes and management
Abstract
Older people are more susceptible to skin tears than the rest of the population. In the residential setting, tearing a resident's skin can be distressing, both for the resident and the staff member, and in many cases it is unavoidable. This paper will discuss the risk factors for and causes and management of skin tears in the residential setting. It will consider how to minimise the risk of skin tears, as well as what dressings might be best used in treating them when they occur.
Skin tears are essentially a traumatic injury that results in there being either full or partial separation of the outer layers of the skin.1 The International Skin Tear Advisory Panel defines a skin tear as: ‘a wound caused by shear friction and/or blunt force resulting in separation of skin layers’.1
Skin tears are most often partial thickness; this occurs when the epidermis separates from the dermis. Occasionally, skin tears are full thickness, which occurs when the dermis and epidermis separate from the underlying structures. Skin tears can happen anywhere on the body where there is skin, but are most commonly found on the arms, legs and back of the hand.
Skin tears are often ignored or consider to be unimportant; however, they can become infected and increase the need for hospitalisation. In extreme circumstances, skin tears may be responsible for disruption of the blood supply to the skin, tissue death and even sepsis, potentially causing the death of the individual affected.
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