Cleavage Lines (Langer’s Lines)

Abstract

The assessment of individual wounds at autopsy may be complicated by the superimposition of a number of injuries or damage to tissues that occurred after death, either of which has the potential to distort the morphology of the initial injury. Additional factors that may change the shape of wounds are (1) the relationship of the wound to the so-called skin cleavage lines (Langer's lines) and (2) tension placed on the skin. Three autopsy cases are reported to demonstrate once more how wound morphology may be altered by such factors. In case 1, rectangular stab wounds to the base of the neck in a 53-year-old man, which suggested that a square or rectangular tool may have caused the injuries, were altered to more typical knife stab wounds once skin tension had been released at autopsy. The uppermost wounds, however, continued to gape due to the effects of skin cleavage lines. In case...