Stab Wounds, How to Treat Them
Have you accidentally injured your hand with a knife? Let’s see together what to do to treat stab wounds.
Hands are the body part most prone to household accidents, especially in the kitchen. Due to a moment of distraction, it can happen that you cut yourself with a knife or other household utensils.
A cut wound is a laceration of the skin that can be:
superficial, if only the skin is involved;
deep, if the underlying layers are also involved.
In general, the edges of a stab wound appear sharp; do not lose your cool, assess the extent of the cut and the extent of the wound, in case it is deep and you are losing a lot of blood, do not hesitate to go to the emergency room.
Finger cut: how to stop the bleeding
What to do after cutting yourself? If the wound is bleeding, you must first stop the bleeding.
Follow these steps to dress small wounds:
Perform continuous compression with sterile gauze, or a clean cloth, on the cut for at least 10 minutes; do not use absorbent cotton, as it may leave small threads in the wound. If the cut is deep and the blood loss does not stop, you must reach the emergency room.
Wash the wound thoroughly with mild soap and water, cold water relieves pain and reduces swelling. Evaluate what you cut yourself with, for example, wounds caused by broken glass should be cleaned very well, as they may hide glass fragments deep inside.
Disinfect the cut with hydrogen peroxide or other disinfectant solutions.
Apply a Band-Aid to the cut.
How to heal from a cut on the finger
Fingers are the parts of the hands most sensitive to pain because they are full of nerve endings.
The affected part of the finger immediately becomes bluish and swollen. After stopping the bleeding and disinfecting the wound, apply a band-aid, which will serve to protect the wound from dirt and bacteria, which entering your system through the cut can cause infections.
It is best to prefer plasters made of hypoallergenic and breathable material, which will not leave residue and will not cause pain in removal.
Finger cut infection
You must follow the course of the wound for at least a couple of days.
Check to see if the cut does not heal on its own, and appears increasingly red and swollen, or if the finger is warmer in the area surrounding the injury.
Check if a yellowish discharge is coming out of the cut, and if you experience pain or burning.
If one or more of these symptoms persist, most likely the wound has become infected; in this case, you should see a doctor who will prescribe antibiotic therapy.
A very common finger cut infection is Tetanus.
This disease is caused by a bacterium called: Chlostridium tetani, which is extremely toxic to the nervous system.
As a type of infection, it is not at all uncommon, especially if you have not been vaccinated, you can get infected after cutting yourself deeply with a dirty or rusty object.