Should You Go to an Urgent Care for Puncture Wounds
One of the most common wounds that people suffer from is a puncture wound. This is where an object pierces your skin and goes all or part way through it. The question many people have is whether they should go to an urgent care facility for these types of wounds. The answer is that it depends on several factors, such as: The nature of your wound—some can be quite severe and require immediate medical attention, but others aren’t so bad and may heal just fine on their own; How deep into your body was the object that caused your wound; Are there other risks involved with neglecting your wound; and if so, are those risks great enough to outweigh any risk associated with seeking treatment for it now?
If you’ve suffered a puncture wound, it’s a good idea to seek medical attention. The risk of infection is higher and there are other factors that can affect your healing time, like if dirt or bacteria got into your wound. Don’t worry—an urgent care doctor will be able to quickly assess and address your puncture wound. The good news is that puncture wounds are generally easy to treat at an urgent care clinic—most often by giving patients antibiotics and bandaging their wounds up. If necessary, emergency room treatment or surgery may be required. In any case, it’s a good idea to visit an urgent care after a puncture wound because of its higher risk of becoming infected—which could lead to an abscessed wound down the road.
As with most wounds, a puncture wound is probably best treated at a doctor’s office or emergency room. If it turns out that no serious damage has been done to any organs, then an urgent care facility will be able to stitch up your wound and get you on your way to recovery. If more serious damage has been done, however, they won’t be able to provide adequate treatment. In that case, it would be best to go straight to a hospital for further treatment—you wouldn’t want someone who isn’t as well trained in emergency medical care as a hospital team is trying to remove bits of glass from your foot.
If there is a lot of blood, if your finger feels numb or tingly, or if any of your fingernail turns blue or black, it’s a good idea to seek medical care. These are signs that infection may be present and could potentially spread quickly. If an infection does set in, it’s extremely unlikely that urgent care treatment would be able to get rid of it without further intervention from a doctor. Another reason to visit an urgent care when you suffer from puncture wounds is if anything foreign (such as dirt or glass) has entered your body with the wound. In these cases, an urgent care professional will likely clean out your injury and thoroughly inspect for any foreign objects.
