A bone fracture with the skin intact is called a:

• A. Open fracture
• B. Closed fracture
• C. Transverse fracture
• D. Spiral fracture

Answer: (B)

Fractures are categorized by skin integrity, meaning whether the skin over the fracture is broken or not. In a closed fracture, the skin remains intact; the bone is fractured but there isn’t an open wound exposing the bone. This typically means a lower risk of infection and usually allows treatment with immobilization such as a cast or splint. In contrast, an open fracture involves a break in the skin with exposure of bone or tissue, which increases infection risk and often requires more urgent, sometimes surgical, management. The terms transverse and spiral describe the pattern or direction of the bone break, not whether the skin is broken, so they don’t define the skin integrity aspect. Since the skin is intact in this scenario, it is a closed fracture.