Friday, December 11, 2009
Dr. Graw discusses lacerations, how you can get them, how to quickly assess severity, and how to make a tourniquet to reduce blood loss. Stay Healthy and be careful with those sharp objects!
Anyone can cut themselves around the house – cutting and chopping food, stepping on broken glass, working with tools in the yard, etc. It can be pretty scary if you don’t know how to deal with a cut.
When you’ve sustained a laceration its important to know where your arteries are located. Your arteries always run from your heart out to your extremities. If the bleeding is in your hands, feet, knees or ankles, you can recognize that by putting pressure on a blood vessel proximal, or closer, to your heart, you can cut down on the bleeding.
There are many places on the body that we worry much more about a laceration. The ones we worry about are superficial lacerations on the sides of the finger, the wrists, the elbows, on the top of the feet, the knees, in the groin area near the top of your thighs. The other place we worry about is on the neck and on the skull.
When you sustain a cut you may need a tourniquet to reduce the bleeding. Try a belt – wrap it around your arm of leg and tighten it up. It will reduce the bleeding until emergency personnel can get to the scene to take care of you. Remember to release the tourniquet now and then – you can’t leave it on forever or the limb may go dead.
If you have a cut that continues to bleed despite pressure and the tourniquet, it is time to go to the hospital. Always call 911 in times of emergency. On the other hand, if you have a minor cut that has stopped bleeding but is still gaping open, we may be able to help you at Righttime Medical Care. Go to an urgent care center and let them suture the wound so that it won’t get infected.
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