Immediate debridement of road rash injuries with versajet® hydrosurgery: traumatic tattoo prevention?

Traumatic tattoos can result from accidental deposition of foreign particles in the dermis. These pigmented particles become permanently lodged in the dermis after re-epithelialization of the wound and can give rise to irregular black or blue discoloration of the skin. Different methods for tattoo removal exist. The best strategy is to prevent traumatic tattooing by immediate removal of the foreign bodies before the healing process has begun. We present a fine-tuned debridement method to selectively debride the wound and preserve as much viable tissue as possible. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .