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Caring For Soft Tissue Wounds
While this newsletter does not take the place of professional medical help and we are in no way liable for improper action, we can help you identify the proper treatments for basic common wounds and identify skin ailments.
Identify and Treat Deeper Flesh Wounds First
If the wound is fresh, skin deep, and mild bleeding is occurring, it's best to clean the site immediately with a topical solution such as Ringers solution (sterilized saline) or wound prep-pads. In a pinch, alcohol or hydrogen peroxide can be used. But these are best avoided, since they slow down healing time and actually kill surface cells.
A skin deep wound should be no deeper than a simple paper cut. For instance, mild skin abrasions, such as knee scrapes, small puncture wounds such as pin pricks. Anything you can see that's deeper than skin level, or especially if muscle or fat tissue is visible, clean the wound immediately, bandage it, and call an emergency team.
Anytime the wound needs closing by stitches or closed over, it needs to be disinfected immediately, and an antibiotic ointment needs to be applied. Cover the wound with a non-sticking gauze bandage and apply pressure to stop the bleeding. The wound needs professional medical attention from a certified first aid or first response person or team. Additionally, emergency medical teams (an ambulance) should be called right away.
Other reasons you may need to call an emergency team, or seek professional.
Treating Superficial Wounds
Mild abrasions, such as scraping one's knee, paper cuts, pin pricks, or surface skin wounds in which the skin has been broken but are not deeper than the skin, can be cared for at home. The only time a person needs to seek medical attention is when they have a suppressed immune system. This includes diabetics, chemotherapy patients, and those suffering from any immune system disease or disorder. Heart patients, those taking anti-clotting drugs and blood thinners should also seek medical attention.
Most Wounds Can Be Treated the Same Way.
First, clean the wound and surrounding tissue with water, a skin prep pad, and/or quick clean wipe. If it is an insect bite, seek medical attention. If there is an object larger than a splinter, seek medical attention for the safe removal of the object. Splinters can be removed by either grasping the protruding edge and pulling firmly, or applying pressure to the other end of the splinter and pushing outward.
Second, use an alcohol prep-pad or disinfecting wipe made for wounds. Pouring Ringers solution (sterilized salt water), or rubbing alcohol on it will also work. Avoid pouring hydrogen peroxide as it kills the tissue and can increase the time needed to heal and increase scarring.
Third, if you have latex, nitrile, or vinyl gloves, please put them on to decrease contamination of the wound.
Fourth, apply an antibiotic ointment to the band-aid or dressing pad. Do not use your fingers, rather, use a cotton swab or second bandage. Avoid touching the wound or side of the dressing that will touch the wound. Apply the bandage slightly larger than the wound. Be sure the entire wound is covered by the antibiotic ointment and the bandage. If the bandage does not have adhesive tape, use medical tape to secure it in place.
Be sure to redress the wound every 6 to 8 hours as needed. Keeping the wound dry, elevated, and clean is essential to speed healing time, reduce the risk of secondary infections, and reduce scarring.
Fifth, monitor the person with the wound for any signs of swelling, redness, or pus on or near the injury site. Also, monitor them for signs of fever, sweating, nausea, vomiting, or other illness. If any further symptoms present themselves, seek immediate medical attention as any of these signs could mean the person has a secondary internal infection.
After the wound has completely healed, apply lotions, skin conditioning oil or skin creams made for scar tissue or stretch marks. Rub the area and scar in circular motions, twice per day, every day, to increase the body's ability to heal the scar tissue and thus reduce the appearance of the scar.
In order to speed healing, decrease the chance of internal and wound infections, and boostthe immune system, there are many herbal preparations on the market which boost the immune system, both inside and out. We will discuss these in our next newsletter.
For more information, try these websites or purchase a first aid care book available from your local Red Cross: