Bo: Treatment of a De-gloving Wound with Platelet-Rich Fibrin

Bo is a young English Setter who was hit by a car. He sustained a severe de-gloving type wound to his paw, in which a large portion of skin was torn from the underlying tissue. A veterinarian attempted to suture the skin that remained, but these sutures did not hold well due to the severity of the injury and the damage to the tissue.   

A large wound such as this is difficult to heal. New skin cells form at the perimeter of a wound. The larger the wound, the longer it takes for the wound to contract and for the skin cells to meet in the middle.

The veterinarians at VRSVA elected to use platelet-rich fibrin to aid in the healing of this wound. The animal’s own blood was drawn and centrifuged in a way to create a fibrin clot that is rich in platelets. The fibrin is malleable and can be stretched over the wound bed to provide a protective fibrin matrix which can serve as a scaffold for tissue repair. The platelets within the platelet-rich fibrin come in contact with the damaged tissue and release growth factors. Growth factors signal the body to activate the cells involved in wound healing and tissue regeneration.

Bo was seen every few days for wound cleaning and debridement and bandage changes. Class IV laser therapy was performed to increase blood flow to the injury and to encourage cellular metabolism, thus speeding waste removal and new cell turnover.

Bo’s wound healed before our eyes. Once a potentially limb-threatening injury, this wound is now a minor scar. He is back to life as usual and we couldn’t be happier for him!