To remove or extract dead or damaged tissue or foreign matter, from a wound: When doctors debride nonviable, or decaying tissue, from a cut or a burn in the skin, they utilize special mechanical knives or scissors and they also include certain chemical procedures.

While camping out in the desert, a young lady walked on the sand without shoes and a cactus thorn dug into her foot and it was necessary to have a doctor to debride it before a serious infection resulted.