Scutes shedding! Never seen anything like it.
 

Hello, everyone. Posting this for an acquaintance in the circle.
I've never seen anything like it. What do you guys think? I understand it can be from trauma or burns. I cannot see any signs of infection or serious pyramiding, no wetness or rot. Skin looks good and the tortoise is behaving like it always has. The vet said the earliest he can see him is on friday. What do you guys think? Should we have it seen to before this?
He's sending me some more pictures, so I'll update asap with those.

https://thumb.ibb.co/im8Syw/scutes.jpg
https://thumb.ibb.co/eN7OMG/22447242...484005_n_1.jpg
https://thumb.ibb.co/kZ2CFb/22207566...686269_n_1.jpg

There must have been some sort of bacteria under the scute, to make it shed like that. If he/she were mine I would bathe the area in and around with diluted iodine, to prevent any bacteria surviving.
It might well be old infection, that has now disappeared. I would check closely to the scutes surrounding that area. To make sure no loose bits of shell. As long as the area is clean and white underneath, I would not worry to much.
Your tortoise does have signs of some pyramiding, although some leopards have this normally in the wild.

Yes, it seems the heat lamp may have been a bit too close. In which case this would be a burn, right? I talked to the owner and he seemed to believe it would make sense. I'll tell him to get to a vet asap for some infection prophylaxis. Damn shame as he seems to have made everything as good as he can. Nice substrate and aside from the shell it seems to be in good shape. Thank you for the reply! I shall tell him immediately.

agree with Sandy, and beautiful tortoise by the way,
as an aside can someone remind me why humans cant buy iodine for humans anymore? it all says animal use only on the bottles, which hasn't stopped me using it on me but Boots have withdrawn theirs from sale....CB

It was all to do with toxicity and a few people were allergic. Great stuff!