A contact gunshot wound to the temple shows stellate laceration of the skin around the entrance hole, with smudging, blackening, and muzzle contusion pattern. The stellate laceration pattern at a hard-contact wound is caused by:

• A The gases that exit from the muzzle before the bullet, which enter the wound and expand between skin and skull, causing the overlying skin to explode outward with radial tears ✓
• B The spinning bullet's rotational force on skin
• C Multiple pellets from a shotgun cartridge creating multiple entry perforations
• D Shrapnel fragmentation from a hollow-point bullet

Explanation

In a hard-contact wound, the muzzle is pressed firmly against the skin overlying bone. Hot propellant gases exit the barrel ahead of and around the bullet; since there is no space for gas dissipation between muzzle and skin, all gases enter the wound track. When these gases reach the underlying bone, they reflect back and expand between the skin and skull (or cartilage), tearing the skin from within outward in a stellate (star-shaped) pattern. This creates the characteristic exploding-outward star laceration. The bullet itself cannot produce stellate tearing; this is gas-pressure artefact unique to hard-contact wounds.

Reference: The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (Narayan Reddy), 34th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.