What would you do...

Larz · Post by **Larz** » 2004-04-19 11:04pm

Today, I was hanging around with a glass jar waiting for class when I broke it and gave myself a 1/3 - 3/4 cm long x 1/2 mm deep laceration on my left middle finger and a 1 cm long x 1 - 2 mm deep laceration on the middle knuckle of my left ring finger.

After recieving these injurys I applied direct preasure with cotton pads (from lack of gauze at the time), tied a restriction bandage on my arm, and taped the cotton down until I got to my g/f house where I cleaned the cuts with alcohol, irrigated them (sprayed 50/50 alcohol/water into cut at high preasure to clean out debris), and applied butterfly bandaging and gauze to the wound... all while suffering from mild - moderate shock.

Note: I did not see a doctor or any health expert during any stage of my self-treatment about this, and all this was preformed on boy scout knowledge of first aid.

Question: Does anyone think that treating such wounds on my own without any consultation of a medical expert was a stupid idea? And has anyone else done something like this (do tell)?

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-04-19 11:07pm

You did good,and if you had go to see a doc he would overuse antibiotics on a minor thing.

BTW i once cut my left hand a few years ago while doing renovation works on my home,and the piece of metal was there since the house was built in the 1930s or 1940s,i simply cleaned-up the wound no doctors no antibiotics and no problems my hand is still there and i'm typing this reply with it.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2004-04-19 11:09pm

coat liberally with fresh honey and wrap. clean and repeat daily.

i did something worse than that to my hand, and with the honey, it healed completely in a week, no scars.

J · Post by J » 2004-04-19 11:11pm

Those are relatively shallow cuts so doing first aid on your own is just fine. In fact the only thing you missed is applying an antiseptic such as Polysporin to the cuts before bandaging them. While not strictly necessary if you've carefully cleaned out the wounds, it helps a lot in preventing infection & scarring and speeds up the healing process.

Larz · Post by **Larz** » 2004-04-19 11:21pm

Well, I'm not all to sure on the ring finger depth. My estimation could be conservative because I could easily open it to see muscle (... well, I guess that wouldn't say anything about it being too deep), but it was hard as the blood flow was quiet impressive.

But it is nice to know that some people still have grit to bare such self repair without crying to a doctor (I've already been told twice today that I was completely wrong and stupid not to go to a doctor and get stitches.)

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-04-19 11:21pm

You did fine, minus the antiseptic as my GF mentioned.

Other notes, if you've nicked the bones in your finger or any other bones it's best to get it checked out by a medical professional. Nicks or cuts to the bones can cause all kinds of nasty things that you don't want to mess with, you run the risk of nasty blood clots & infections among other things.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2004-04-20 12:41am

On the whole, I have observed that most Americans are, quite simply, wusses. They go nuts if they nick their finger, a fall off their bike and a good scraping up warrants the emergency room... so I exaggerate, but only slightly.

I've had a good number of bad accidents myself... like, once I slashed my thumb about half a centimeter deep (on the ball of the finger). Bled like crazy... I applied pressure with tissues till it eased off, then applied Neosporin and bandaged tight. A few days with the bandage, and it was gone in two weeks.

Another time, I fell off my bike onto a pile of gravel... scraped my leg up to the knee. Hurt like a bitch, but all I did was wash it off and it was fine.

Twice when I was little, I fell some distance and busted open my scalp... the first time, my dad stitched up my head while my mom held my hands; the second (which was only two weeks afterwards!) I had my head stitched up on top of a chest refrigator.

Another time, I was out biking in the bush... farm country... someone'd chopped down a number of thorn bushes (these are African thornbushes-- mean >1in. thorns) and used them to surround his plot, but they'd dried out and kind of blended in with the ground, so I didn't see them till I was in the middle of 'em. Braked (like a fool), unbalanced, and went right down onto my hands and foot (the other foot was on the upper side of the bike). PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hobbled over to a nearby boulder, sat, removed what i could, grabbed my bike, and then half walked/half rode... over a mile back to home. Tweezers and a needle, and I was done... sore for a day or so, and a week later I tugged a mother of a thorn out of the underside of my arm, but otherwise perfectly fine with nothing but Neosporin and band-aids.

So yeah, you don't got nothing to worry about... I do!

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-20 12:54am

I try to avoid doctors unless I have too.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2004-04-20 01:13am

I have not cut myself too badly since i was younger. I cut myself good at work once or twice with a razor. First time I went to First Aid because those are the rules. Second time I was at a different company with no first aid so I just applied pressure and worried for about 10 minutes. I turned out okay.

At this point in my life, Im gonna go to the doctor for anything Im not sure about beause I cant afford to lose any income if it gets bad.

Post by **Kuja** » 2004-04-20 01:25am

Meh. I just put a bandaid on my cuts and forget about em. Even when I ripped open all four fingers on one hand on a packing strip, I didn't bother with a doctor.

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2004-04-20 01:33am

Well, on your fingers your nerves and veins run on the lateral and median sides of your fingers. So you should be fine.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2004-04-20 02:35am

Unless you cut yourself with a rusty nail (or piece of metal) in a place where horse manure is abundant (or just the rusty part if you're queasy) then self bandage application thingy is the way to go. Just clean, rub alcohol and put some gauze and Bob's your uncle.

If you did cut yourself with the rusty thingy, then be afraid, be very afraid... you could get tetanus. But what's worse, the only possible antidote must be injected to you with a NEEDLE!!! *shivers* (j/k)

Anyway, I don't get what people say about the antiseptic. Isn't alcohol an antiseptic?

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-04-20 02:37am

Slartibartfast wrote:Unless you cut yourself with a rusty nail (or piece of metal) in a place where horse manure is abundant (or just the rusty part if you're queasy) then self bandage application thingy is the way to go. Just clean, rub alcohol and put some gauze and Bob's your uncle.

If you did cut yourself with the rusty thingy, then be afraid, be very afraid... you could get tetanus. But what's worse, the only possible antidote must be injected to you with a NEEDLE!!! *shivers* (j/k)

Anyway, I don't get what people say about the antiseptic. Isn't alcohol an antiseptic?

Yeah, but it really sucks to have to use it.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-04-20 02:50am

no, no

apply turnequet to the fingers, douse in alcohol, let maggots eat the diseased and infected tissue away, and then cauterize with a blow torch...

oh, what I thought the subject was what would I do if my first stepdad, or my sister's ex=husbad had a paper cut...