Motorcyclists know that they face numerous dangers especially compared to drivers of covered vehicles. It simply comes with the territory, and with driving a non-covered motorcycle.
Traumatic tattoos are just one of the many types of injuries that motorcyclists suffer from at a higher rate. But what exactly are they?
Defining traumatic tattoos
The National Library of Medicine talks about traumatic tattoos, an issue that afflicts more than just motorcyclists due to the nature of the injury.
A traumatic tattoo occurs in any case where something embeds underneath the skin of the victim. Commonly, this happens in motorcyclists when they hit the ground and skid across the pavement, i.e. a “road rash”. However, it can also happen in cases where people get hit by shrapnel or end up caught in an explosion of some sort.
Traumatic tattoos can create numerous problems for the sufferer, including the possibility of the injury creating a large scar.
The risk of infection
On top of that, if foreign debris ends up lodged beneath the skin, it creates the risk of infection. All wounds received from abrasive force against the ground or any other object requires cleaning from medical staff. They have the tools needed to get into every nook of the injury and scour out the debris as needed.
If debris ends up left inside of the wound, it can fester and become infected, or the skin might grow over the debris and create strange adhesions or muscular issues. Particularly bad infections can even lead to gangrene or sepsis, making this a problem to handle immediately.