Hawk Law Group | March 21, 2022 | Motorcycle Accidents
Road rash is a common injury that accident victims can experience after a motorcycle accident, pedestrian accident, or bicycle accident. Road rash can expose you to infection and even leave you permanently disfigured.
Here are some facts about road rash and how you can seek compensation for a road rash injury.
Your Skin
Your skin is your largest organ. It performs several functions, including:
- Keeping microorganisms out
- Blocking moisture from escaping
- Protecting your body from radiation, chemicals, and debris
Epidermis
The epidermis is the outermost layer and forms a barrier to keep foreign matter out of your body and fluids in. The epidermis is also responsible for your skin tone.
Dermis
The dermis sits below the epidermis. It contains oil glands to keep the epidermis pliable. It also contains sweat glands to help you regulate your body temperature.
Blood vessels pass through the epidermis to carry oxygen and nutrients to the skin cells. The dermis also contains nerve endings that gather sensory information like pressure, texture, and temperature from the skin.
Hypodermis
The hypodermis is the lowest layer of the skin. It contains the fat layer that cushions your body from impacts and insulates it from heat and cold.
How Road Rash Happens
Road rash is an abrasion injury. It happens when rough pavement scrapes the skin from your body. The texture of the pavement can abrade the skin like a grater or sandpaper.
Simultaneous with the scraping, friction between your skin and the road will cause your skin to heat up. As a result, road rash injuries will show symptoms of both burns and abrasions.
Some signs of road rash include:
- Pain
- Redness
- Raw skin
- Loose skin
- Minor bleeding
- Swelling
The severity of the symptoms will often depend on the depth of the injury. A relatively minor case of road rash that only affects the epidermis might not even hurt. But a deeper road rash injury that reaches the dermis or hypodermis could produce severe symptoms.
Complications from Road Rash
Road rash can produce some serious complications, including:
Infection
An infection happens when bacteria enter the body. The bacteria produce toxic chemicals as they destroy your cells.
Your body will combat the infection by increasing your temperature out of the bacteria’s comfort zone. Your body will also rush white blood cells to the wound, producing swelling.
Between the damage done by the bacteria and your body’s response, an infection could make you very sick. Doctors treat infections with antibiotics. If they cannot control the infection, you risk septic shock and death.
Traumatic Tattoo
A traumatic tattoo happens when debris gets deposited into the dermis as your body scrapes across the pavement. The dermis is where tattoo ink gets deposited to form a permanent design. The debris can also sit in the dermis permanently, causing disfigurement.
Doctors can treat some traumatic tattoos by removing the debris.
Scarring
Scars form when the skin gets damaged, and the body makes replacement skin cells. Replacement skin cells do not have the elasticity of your original skin cells. As a result, the replacement skin appears tough, inelastic, and discolored.
In severe cases of road rash, doctors may use skin grafts to protect the open wound. This can promote healing, but skin grafts increase the chances of scarring.
Compensation for Road Rash
If you suffered a road rash due to someone else’s negligence, you could seek compensation for its effects. Your compensation will cover your medical bills and lost income.
For a severe case of road rash, you might have substantial medical expenses for antibiotics and skin grafts. You might miss work since your injuries may affect your ability to move.
Your compensation can also cover all of the ways your road rash injury diminished your quality of life. In addition to pain and mental anguish, road rash can cause permanent scarring and disfigurement. These non-economic losses could justify substantial compensation.
Contact the Motorcycle Accident Lawyers In the Central Savannah River Area at Hawk Law Group for Legal Assistance Today
For more information, please contact the motorcycle accident lawyers at Hawk Law Group at our nearest location to schedule a free consultation today.
We serve throughout the Central Savannah River Area and its surrounding areas:
Hawk Law Group – Augusta, GA
338 Telfair St, Augusta, GA 30901, United States
(706) 722-3500
Hawk Law Group – Evans, GA
4384 River Watch Pkwy, Evans, GA 30809, United States
(706) 863-6500
Hawk Law Group – Thomson, GA
146 Railroad St A, Thomson, GA 30824, United States
(706) 361-0350
Hawk Law Group – Waynesboro, GA
827 Liberty St, Waynesboro, GA 30830, United States
(706) 437-9122
Hawk Law Group – Aiken County, SC
156 Laurens St NW, Aiken, SC 29801, United States
(803) 226-9089
We also serve in Edgefield County, SC.
