Delight note: This information was electric current at the fourth dimension of publication. But medical information is always changing, and some information given here may be out of date. For regularly updated information on a variety of health topics, please visit familydoctor.org, the AAFP patient instruction website.

Data from Your Family unit Doctor

Caring for Cuts, Scrapes, and Wounds

Am Fam Medico. 2002 Jul 15;66(2):315-316.

How should I clean a cut, scrape, or wound?

The best way to clean a cut, scrape, or puncture wound (such every bit from a nail) is with absurd water. You tin agree the wound under running water or fill a tub with absurd h2o and pour it from a cup over the wound.

Use soap and a soft washcloth to clean the skin around the wound. Try to proceed soap out of the wound considering it can cause irritation. Utilise tweezers that accept been cleaned in isopropyl booze to remove any dirt that is notwithstanding in the wound after washing.

Even though it may seem that you should employ a stronger cleansing solution (such equally hydrogen peroxide or an antiseptic), these things may irritate wounds. Ask your family doc if you feel you must use something other than h2o.

What almost haemorrhage?

Bleeding helps clean out wounds. Most small cuts or scrapes will stop bleeding in a short time. Wounds on the face, head, or mouth will sometimes drain a lot because these areas are rich in blood vessels.

To stop the bleeding, apply firm just gentle force per unit area on the cut with a clean textile, tissue, or slice of gauze. If the blood soaks through the gauze or cloth you lot are holding over the cut, don't have it off. But put more gauze or some other cloth on top of what you already have in place and apply more than pressure.

If your wound is on an arm or leg, raising information technology to a higher place your eye also will help tedious the haemorrhage.

Should I use a bandage?

Leaving a wound uncovered helps it stay dry out and helps it heal. If the wound isn't in an area that will get muddied or be rubbed past clothing, you don't have to cover it.

If the wound is in an area that will get dingy (such equally your hand) or be irritated by clothing (such as your knee), cover information technology with an adhesive bandage (brand name: Band-aid), or with a piece of sterile gauze and adhesive tape, or use a pare agglutinative (brand proper name: Band-aid Liquid Bandage). Change the agglutinative strip or gauze each day to keep the wound make clean and dry.

Certain wounds, such as scrapes that comprehend a large area of the torso, should exist kept moist and clean to help reduce scarring and speed healing. Bandages used for this purpose are called occlusive or semiocclusive bandages. You can purchase them in drug stores without a prescription. Your family medico volition tell you if this blazon of cast is best for you.

Should I utilise an antibiotic ointment?

Antibiotic ointments (such as Bacitracin) help healing past keeping out infection and by keeping the wound make clean and moist. A cast does the same affair. If you have stitches, your doctor volition tell you whether to employ an antibiotic ointment. Most pocket-sized cuts and scrapes will heal without antibiotic ointment, merely it tin speed healing and help reduce scarring.

Call your family unit doctor if any of the following things happen:

  • The wound is jagged.

  • The wound is on your face.

  • The edges of the cutting hang open.

  • The cut has dirt in it that won't come out.

  • The cut becomes tender or inflamed (red).

  • The cutting drains a thick, creamy, grayish fluid.

  • You lot start to run a temperature higher than 100°F.

  • The expanse around the wound feels numb.

  • Yous can't move comfortably.

  • Blood-red streaks class nearly the wound.

  • It's a puncture wound or a deep cut, and yous haven't had a tetanus shot in the past five years.

  • The cut bleeds in spurts, blood soaks through the bandage, or the bleeding doesn't cease after 10 minutes of house, direct pressure.

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This handout is provided to you past your family doctor and the American Academy of Family unit Physicians. Other wellness-related data is available from the AAFP online at http://familydoctor.org.

This data provides a general overview and may not utilize to everyone. Talk to your family unit doctor to find out if this information applies to y'all and to get more information on this subject area.

Copyright © 2002 past the American Academy of Family Physicians.
This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the fabric and may use that printout merely for his or her personal, not-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise exist downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or after invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. Contact afpserv@aafp.org for copyright questions and/or permission requests.

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