Check out Cuts, Scratches and Abrasions
The glass slips from your hands and breaks when it hits the floor. You take off to find your mom and you step on a sliver of glass. Ouch! Now, you're bleeding, too. Understanding and taking care of cuts requires some basic knowledge.
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Steps
- Understand the differences between cuts, scratches, and abrasions.
- Cuts: These are injuries to the skin caused by something sharp, like a knife.
- Scratches: These are slight injuries that happen when a sharp object (like a fingernail or thorn) scrapes along your skin the way a pencil scrapes across paper.
- Abrasions: These are scrapes that happen when the skin is rubbed away. For example, you might get a "rug burn" while wrestling with your brother, or a "board burn" if you wipe out on your skateboard when you aren't wearing knee-pads.
Understanding How Cuts and Scratches Heal
- After getting a cut, scratch, or abrasion, your skin may start bleeding. This happens because the injury breaks or tears the tiny blood vessels that live right under the skin's surface. Your body wants to stop the bleeding, so the platelets in your blood come to the rescue.
- At the site of a wound, in this case, a cut, the platelets stick together like glue. This is called clotting, which works like a plug to keep blood and other fluids from leaking out. A scab (a hardened and dried clot) forms a crust over the wound. This protects the area so the cells underneath can have time to heal.
- Underneath the scab, new skin cells multiply to repair the wound. Damaged blood vessels are repaired, and infection-fighting white blood cells attack any germs that may have gotten into the wound. You can't see it under the scab, but a new layer of skin is forming. When the new skin is ready, the scab falls off. A scab usually falls off within a week or two. If you pick at a scab, the new skin underneath can be ripped and the wound will take longer to heal (and it may leave a scar). Try not to pick at scabs.
Caring for a Cut or Scratch
- Stop any bleeding by pressing a clean, soft cloth against the wound. If the wound isn't very bad, the bleeding should stop in a few minutes. Then, you'll want to clean the wound using warm water and a gentle soap.
- Most small cuts, scrapes, or abrasions will heal well without any special care. For extra protection, you can use an antibacterial ointment or a bandage. Antibacterial ointment will kill germs. A bandage will keep your wound from getting irritated and will prevent germs from getting inside. If you use a bandage, it should be changed daily and when it gets wet or dirty.
Dealing with Excessive Bleeding
- If a wound is very long or deep, or if its edges are far apart, you may need stitches. The doctor will use some type of anesthetic on your skin to numb it. This numbing medicine might be applied directly, or through a shot.
- The doctor will suture or sew the edges of the cut together with a small needle and special thread.
- For more minor cuts, the doctor might use a special kind of glue (instead of stitches) to close your cut. This glue holds the sides of the cut together so the skin can begin to heal. The glue will dissolve over time.
- If you get stitches, you will need to go back to the doctor in about a week to get those stitches taken out. The doctor will just snip the thread with scissors and gently pull out the threads. It feels funny, but it usually doesn't hurt.
- Sometimes, a small scar forms after stitches are removed. If you don't get the proper care for a serious cut, a more noticeable scar may form.
Special Considerations
- Bites and scratches may need special care, because germs from the animal or person might have gotten into the wound. The doctor might prescribe an antibiotic medicine to prevent infection. If you were bitten or scratched by an animal, you will need to make sure that the animal didn't have rabies, a dangerous virus.
- Certain cuts or bites could develop into tetanus, another serious illness. Your parent will need to check your medical records and be sure that you have had a tetanus shot recently.
- Sometimes, a cut, scratch, or abrasion starts out as no big deal, but then it gets infected. An infection happens when there are too many germs for your body's white blood cells to handle. Infected wounds may hurt, look red and swollen, and contain pus, which is a thick yellowish or greenish liquid. If your cut, scratch, or abrasion looks infected, you should talk to someone. You may need to see a doctor for antibiotics to get rid of the infection.
- Most often, your cuts, scratches, and abrasions go away on their own, thanks to your body's amazing ability to heal itself.
