Different skin burn patterns may be identified in a person exposed to high voltage electricity.
Type of Burn |
Features |
entrance and exit burns (source entrance and ground exit) |
seen in direct contact to the electrical source, with current passing through body to ground, also seen in low voltage electrical exposures |
arc burn |
with very high voltages the current may jump in an arc from one point in the body to another |
flash burn |
from energy emission; first or second degree burn similar to a severe sunburn |
thermal burn |
ignited clothing or environmental materials |
dendritic burn |
complex skin pattern seen with very high voltage burns or lightning strikes resulting from damage to small cutaneous blood vessels and hemolysis |
Examples of arc wounds:
(1) from ground to lower leg
(2) between the proximal and distal aspects of a bent limb
(3) between hand and forearm
With very high voltages a hand or foot at source or ground may autoamputate due to the severity of the tissue damage.
Specialty: Emergency Medicine, Critical Care
ICD-10: ,