Topical medication of wound may mislead the medico-legal judgment

Abstract EN

Wound is a great issue that is very important in forensic medicine reports with its great medico-legal importance through inspecting wound characters and estimating its incidence time.

In this study, twenty-seven male albino rats (200-220 gm) were randomly divided into three groups (n = 9) to study the effects of topical wound dressing on wound healing.

Group I (positive control group): wound surface was treated with saline while, groups II and III were treated daily with a thin film of panthenol gel and helarium cream, respectively.

Pieces of skin containing the wound area were taken after 1, 7 and 14 days to estimate the wound healing process.

Wound area was examined macroscopically and microscopically using transmission electron microscope.

The obtained results revealed that both panthenol and helarium enhanced wound healing process compared with control group; there was significant wound area shrinkage after 7 days of panthenol treatment.

We conclude that wound healing may be accelerated by using some medications which consequently, leads to inaccurate forensic judgment concerning wound age.