Foo - So what happens if I don't get stitches?

Hey,
My pants got caught in the chain yesterday and my knee smacked my stem pretty hard. Never hit the floor though. Its only about the size of a dime, but its about 3-4 mm deep.

I have a pretty deep gash, I cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide and put neosporin all over and wrapped a band-aid on.

Do I need stitches or could it heal naturally?

3-4mm? That's obviously not The States, so chances are you have health care, give us a vicarious thrill, let the docs check it out.

You get big ugly scars when you need stitches and don't get them. Chances of infection go way up too.

As long as it doesn't get infected, worse case, it heals slower and you get a gnarly scar. ;)


Stitches are to hold the edges of the wound together to promote faster healing.

Okay - find yourself a leaf cutter anthill. Stomp on the ground, when the guard ants come running out, grab one and press the pincher's against both sides of the wound. It will bite, hard, and not let go. Then, cut off the body and leave the head - repeat until the wound is sutured with ant heads.

A benefit with this - besides being free - is the heads will fall off naturally after 3 days or so.

Might be a tad hard to find leaf cutters up there though...

you could buy some super glue and use that to bind the wound closed.
In fact, that's what cyanoacrylate was origianlly used for in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Steri-Strips? Cheap enough and easy to get. ;) Just align the edges of the wound. :D

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9927/staplerbq7.jpg

you could buy some super glue and use that to bind the wound closed.
In fact, that's what cyanoacrylate was origianlly used for in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Do this and butterfly bandages.

Before
http://i30.tinypic.com/vy8wnq.jpg


After
http://i28.tinypic.com/33cp0fd.jpg


I'm still working on trying to make it look better. Mederma is a rip off.

Ha ha fuzzy, you heal like I do. :D

Super glue does work wonders. Seriously. Just make sure the wound is dry before applying and pinch the cut closed before you put it on. It will take a while to dry so be patient. You will have to re-apply after a couple of days because it will start to peel off with showering and stuff.

And the cool part is, the scarring will be significantly less. :)

Just be aware that liquid bandaids HURT when applied, maybe only for a little while but they still hurt. I think a leather awl and some sinew would be more better. ;)

I've done the superglue thing but really I much prefer to just have it stitched whenever possible. Part of that is thanks to Medicare and it being free, I'm sure, but it heals much better and I can be less careful of it.

+1 superglue
+ use polysporin +silver iodide butterfly bandages.

cost you an extra ten bucks for first aid supplies, but virtually scarless and minus annoying wait time and being punctured repeatedly.

oh yeah...the important thing everyone has left off so far.
When was your last tetanus shot?

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I actually had a dermatologist appointment today, and I asked the doctor to check it out. He said I definatly needed to stitch it up, so he did it for me.

But, from what I saw, there wasn't much cleaning going on. Hopefully it won't get infected.

Superglue and liquid bandaids are totally useless for anything big enough to want them on. Butterflies are useful with gashes but not with hole shaped wounds. The healing process on decent sized wounds takes forever. I've had some stay open literally for months, and scarring is guaranteed.

^^^ Mr. Sunshine of happiness^^^ :rolleyes: You're supposed to say something POSITIVE! *flicks banerjek in the forehead*

If it gets infected, maggots FTW!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Maggots.jpg/200px-Maggots.jpg

Don't pick at it. I did with mine. :P

is mederma that stuff that's supposed to help scars heal better?

there's something else i saw in the drugstore today like that....is mederma no good?

I used vitamin E oil when i had surgery...it worked great.

I;m asking because i had a stupid fall the other day...i had a slow leak and didn't know, slid on gravel and blat! skinned my right elbow. I'd have kept going if not for the flat...but my elbow was bleeding and bleeding. SO i went to the clinic...turns out i needed 2 stitches and tetanus shot. I went back two days later so they could see how it's doing, turns out it's infected, now i have to take antibiotics as well. My season is off to a majorly sucky start. NO bike until the stitches heal...fine with me, it hurts like hell. I also have a huge, awful hideous bruise on my right hip/but cheek. Incidentally it was my cross bike...the road bike is being tuned up for spring!

Anyways i've never really had a bad infected wound before...scrapes etc but never needed stitches! i guess this one will leave a nice big scar...

Eventually, you'll die. Might be 2 years, or 20, or 70, but eventually... There's no avoiding it. :p :D

Eventually, you'll die. Might be 2 years, or 20, or 70, but eventually... There's no avoiding it. :p :D

You forgot to add the fact that until that death, there will be a giant upraised purple pulsating 3D kinda appendage that grew on the spot after the accident. And it prefers to be called Fred.

:D

What you need to do is watch Rambo and Road House and then get out the sewing kit.

staplegun.

I worry about open wounds like that and no stitches... MRSA... enough said.

Hey buddies,
Haven't ridden my bike forever and I'm still not sure if I could. It's right on my kneecap so it'll constantly be stretching..

What do you guys think?

I worry about open wounds like that and no stitches... MRSA... enough said.

The funny thing about an open wound is that it's impossible for an open wound to get infected. In fact, if you're worried about the risk of infection in a wound, you leave it open instead of closing it.

The funny thing about an open wound is that it's impossible for an open wound to get infected. In fact, if you're worried about the risk of infection in a wound, you leave it open instead of closing it.

Fascinating, I had never even heard that. Is that because bacteria are anaerobic or something?

Fascinating, I had never even heard that. Is that because bacteria are anaerobic or something?

No--wounds will heal from the inside out, and as long as there's no space for fluid/pus to accumulate you won't get an infection. Any time I drain an abscess, for instance, I'll leave it open and pack the wound so that there's a wick to the skin that lets the fluid out.

For instance, if someone is at a very high risk of infection after an abdominal surgery, I'll leave the incision open and let it heal. Sure it's a bigger scar, but you can keep the wound clean and it won't get infected. Typically you can use what's called a wet-to-dry dressing, which consists of a moist gauze packed into the open wound. Over time the dressing dries out and sticks to the dirty, non-viable stuff in the wound, so that when you change the dressing (usually twice a day) the dead/devitalized stuff comes out, leaving behind healthy tissue.

It begs a whole discussion on colonized vs. infected wounds, etc. etc., but that's kinda the basics.

Interesting stuff. Reminds me of a story I read about some people who had surgical instruments and sponges left in them after surgery. One guy had a massive infection in his abdomen. They ended up leaving his abdomen open and stuffing in towels that were soaked in antiseptic, and changing it once a day. I think it said they left it open for a couple of weeks. At the time I read it I thought leaving the abdomen open was a compromise so they could change the dressings, but now it sounds like leaving the abdomen open decreased the risks rather than increased the risks.

The article said his abdominal muscles were destroyed from the infection and he could no longer walk normally.

Interesting stuff. Reminds me of a story I read about some people who had surgical instruments and sponges left in them after surgery. One guy had a massive infection in his abdomen. They ended up leaving his abdomen open and stuffing in towels that were soaked in antiseptic, and changing it once a day. I think it said they left it open for a couple of weeks. At the time I read it I thought leaving the abdomen open was a compromise so they could change the dressings, but now it sounds like leaving the abdomen open decreased the risks rather than increased the risks.

The article said his abdominal muscles were destroyed from the infection and he could no longer walk normally.

Yeah, leaving the abdomen open is a different animal. I was just talking about leaving the skin open and leaving the abdominal wall closed. Leaving the abdomen open is useful, though, in real disasters, where you know that you're set up for some intra-abdominal abscess/bowel ischemia/bleeding/abdominal compartment syndrome/etc. etc.

It's not without its own set of risks, but if done in the right patient leaving the abdomen open can be life-saving, and there are some options for reconstructing the abdominal wall, but they don't always work or there's some other extenuating circumstance.