How to Treat Cuts and Scrapes?
Every day we are exposed to situations that could lead us suffering cuts and scrapes and that is why it is not surprising that cuts and scrapes are some of the most common injuries there are out there. This is because most activities we do expose us to cuts and scrapes, such as preparing food in the kitchen, operating tools in the yard or in the farm or even work related injuries especially for those that operate machinery at work. This is without mentioning accidents such as falls or high impact hits, all of which can lead to one suffering cuts and scrapes. Those that take part in sports, especially for contact sports, ten chances are that you will suffer cuts and scrapes at one point or the other, with the same applying to accidents involving bicycles, vehicles, motorcycles and skateboards. What this shows is that the chances of one suffering cuts and scrapes is pretty high and as such it is important that one knows how to go about treating themselves in case one does suffer such an injury. This is important as cuts and scrapes if not taken care off well could lead to an infection of the wound, which could result in sepsis, which as we all know is life-threatening. This article will therefore come in handy as it will look to highlight how one can go about treating cuts and scrapes.
The very first thing you want to do as far as treating cuts and scrapes go, as per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com, is cleaning the wound thoroughly and stemming the bleeding if any. If the cut is minor and doesn’t require medical attention, you want to clean it with water and mild soap so as to remove any debris and bacteria. It is recommended that when cleaning the wound, one should avoid cotton or wool as the fibers may get caught in the wound leading to infection. after cleaning, the next step is using an antiseptic agent, alcohol or an astringent on the wound and the area surrounding it to kill bacteria. After that, you should cover the wound with a Band-Aid or cloth wrap, depending on the size of the wound. For those cuts and scrapes that are a bit serious and may require medical attention, you should ensure you head over and seek medical attention for them. Such wounds will have bleeding that lasts for more than 10 minutes and isn’t easing, have gaping open sides, will be deep such that underlying tissue such as blood vessels, tendons and nerves are exposed, will be on a joint, will appear dirty even after cleaning or will have exposed muscle tissue which is red in color or fat tissue which is yellow in color.
For those cuts that are deep, the wound may need to be closed up and to that end they are a number of options available to us, and this is what we are going to look at next. First up are stitches, which when using them, the trick is to ensure the edges of the wound are threaded together in such a way that they are lined up with each other, as per the folks over at frontlineer.com. This is particularly important if the cut is on a place that experiences a lot of movement such as on a joint. It is also recommended that stitching is applied if the cut is uneven and jagged. Another way to close up a cut is by the use of Steri-strips which are fine, sticky and thin strips that act like stitches. They are preferred when one has a cut that although deep, isn’t deep enough to warrant the use of stitches. They are also used if the cut is on a cosmetically important area to minimize scarring such as on the face. Butterfly strips are also used in such instances. Finally, we have skin superglue which is used to glue skin together to allow it to heal. It is also used in area where scarring would rather be minimized such as the face. It however can’t be used on areas that bend a lot or experience high tension, such as on joints.
Finally, we will take a look at how one can treat scrapes, which unlike cuts, are not dep but may cover an extensive area of the skin. The first thing to do when treating scrapes is to ensure that the scraped area is cleaned with water and a mild soap so as to remove any debris. Next up, as per the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com, is to ensure that you apply antiseptic or astringent agents or alcohol on the scrapped part and the surrounding area then finally cover the scrape with first an antibiotic ointment then a bandage so as to ensure that the scrape doesn’t come into contact with external elements and organisms. Scrapes are much more likely to be infected as a large surface area of the skin is exposed and as such should always be covered. One should also ensure that they are up to date with all their vaccinations, including the tetanus vaccination.
The above discussion details how one should go about things when looking to treat cuts and scrapes, with more on this and other topics to be found over at frontlineer.com.
