Fig. 2

Severity of pressure ulcers. Healthy hindpaw seen on (a) control and (b) proactively bandaged hindpaw. Pressure ulcers were seen on the heel within 1.5 weeks of nerve injury without standard bandaging. c Grade 1 pressure ulcers, seen within 1–2 weeks of nerve injury and infrequently when standard bandaging was implemented proactively. d-f Grades 2–4 pressure ulcers were seen when treatment was implemented within 2–3 weeks after nerve injury. g-h Eosin labeling in sagittal sections of (g) Contralateral control paw and (h) ipsilateral paw that was denervated and bandaged for 4 months, revealed no visible ulceration. Single and double arrows denote corresponding locations along length of paw in control and denervated limbs. Despite considerable scar formation and connective tissue remodeling in the heel (region indicated by *), which is concurrent with contracture (resulting in high curvature of denervated paw), no breaks in the integrity of the skin were observed with bandaging. E: Epidermis; D: Dermis; Sub-D: Subdermal tissue (muscle, fascia). i Gross morphological view (axial section) of scar deposition in the heel, resulting from prolonged denervation, analogous to * region in (H)