Postmortem skin changes include livor mortis vibices tardieu spots and marbling.
Marbling time of death.
Vibices are pale marks on a dead person s skin that are caused by dermal pressure.
The classic rigor mortis or stiffening of the body from which the term stiffs derives begins around three hours after death and is maximal at around 12 hours after death.
Marbling over the trunk and limbs is another.
Mottling of skin before death is common and usually occurs during the final week of life although in some cases it can occur earlier.
Other signs of.
3 5 days after death the body starts to bloat and blood containing foam leaks from the mouth and nose.
Several weeks after death nails and teeth fall out.
8 10 days after death the body turns from green to red as the blood decomposes and the organs in the abdomen accumulate gas.
Livor mortis refers to the bluish purple discoloration under the skin of the lower body parts due to gravitation of blood after death.
1 month after death the body starts to liquify.
Mottling most frequently occurs first on the feet then travels up the legs.
A study of the skin is particularly important to determine the time of death which can be estimated within the first 48 hours of death.
Although these changes proceed in a relatively orderly fashion a variety of external factors and intrinsic characteristics may accelerate or retard decomposition.
Beginning at around the 12 hour mark the body again becomes more flaccid as it was at the time of death.
Mottling is blotchy red purplish marbling of the skin.
Fresh stage roughly 0 12 hours after death in the first hours following your death your body shows no outward signs of decomposition but lots of stuff is going down on the inside.
Onset of lividity its location and color provide information on the time and cause of death.
Marbling forensic pathology venous patterning a mosaic of discoloration due to prominent subdermal vessels on the skin of a body in early decomposition decay sports medicine skin marbling mottling of skin seen in divers with pulmonary barotrauma and air embolism.
Understanding common postmortem changes and the variables that affect them allows the forensic pathologist to more accurately estimate the postmortem interval.
After death the body enters a long process of decomposition as its organic elements split into simpler components.
