her skin had been folded back

[odilonredon]

Hi there

I don't understand what "skin had been folded back" in the sentence below.

"The head nurse was giving attention to her mother’s arm as she sat propped up in bed. A thick piece of her skin had been folded back from
the bones and ligament."

I just can't see how one's skin can be folded back from bones and ligament. It doesn't make sense to me. Or is it a medical term?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Raymott]

No 'folding back' is not a medical term. In older people the skin is very fragile. A tear in the skin can cause it to fold back. In the picture below, the flap of skin has a tenuous connection with the underlying tissues, and could easily fold back. Naturally, you'd need a deeper wound to have skin folding back off bones and ligaments. The text does say it was a "thick piece".
Skin does not normally fold back, but the context is given that a nurse is treating it, so we're talking about an injury.

 

[Jill Dorchester]

:shock: (We need a "vomit" smiley!)

The mother's arm could have been injured somehow - auto accident, fallen through a window, etc - which cut the flesh and folded it back to expose the bone.