Postmortem face peel-down examination

A postmortem face peel-down examination showing injury of and around the left eye with bleeding (hemorrhage). When injury to the face is suspected, special dissection is required with removal of the soft tissues of the face from the underlying skeleton. Here the face has been peeled downward, leaving the eyes in their sockets (orbits).

Although the face is not usually peeled back completely during autopsy, in accessing the brain, the pathologist will often peel back some of the face and expose the fat, muscle, blood vessels and tendons below the skin. Bear in mind that When dissecting in this area to not be so radical as to preclude adequate cosmetic reconstruction.