How important are stitches anyway?
Okay, so yesterday when I was learning to section blocks for TEM, I accidentally sliced my finger with a razor blade. It's not a big cut, but it's kinda deep and angled (the angle of the cut is what makes it bad, I think). I cleaned it up, used an alcohol pad on it and put some antibiotic cream on it before bandaging it. I once cut myself like this before, when I was in high school, but I felt so dumb about how I cut it that I never told my parents about it. As I recall, I just took good care of it, and after a month or so, it healed. It left a scar on my finger, but no other problems. So, I'm thinking that I don't need to go to the clinic and get it checked. It will probably be alright as long as I keep an eye on it and it doesn't get infected, right? If it needs stitches, I can't imagine that it would need more than one (maybe two). So I'm just looking for confimation that I'm not doing a bad thing by essentially ignoring it. I really don't want to sit in a clinic for a long time just to have the guy tell me it's no big deal.
8 comments:
Don't let my advice be the last word, but I agree with what you say. Especially if you can keep the cut pulled together well with a band-aid, I think it should be fine without stitches. The scar may be a little more pronounced without stitches (but if you can keep it pulled together with a band-aid that may not even be true). I think the real question is whether you can keep the edges together and keep it from splitting open again. If you can do that you should be fine.
That said, I know they have new methods like taping and gluing wounds that can even reduce the scar more and make it heal faster. Might be worth going into the clinic just to see if they can do that (and see how well it works)
There, nothing like decisive advice. Maybe this type of thinking is why I can't seem to settle on a statistics program for my data.
Anyway, good luck with the finger whatever you do!
Hey - can you post a photo? I find that neosporin and a bandage help most things. Unless it's in a place that would make it pop open often. Rusty has a gash on his foot the vet didn't stitch. Got it Sat. - I think he was bit under the fence by neighbor dog. It's a pucture wound and still is open, but finally today I could see it's healing.
Tim cut his finger with a bread knife recently, deep and at an angle. He had similar sentiments as you, and after keeping it clean and protected for a week or so, it appears to be healing well. I don't really know much about stiches, so I can't offer any real advice, other than my Tim anecdote.
How are you enjoying TEM?
I agree with the previous replies - I wouldn't worry too much if it isn't splitting open or showing signs of infection. Hope it heals quickly!
Thanks for the input ladies. I'm pretty sure that it will heal itself if I take care of it and give it enough time. I was a bit concerned because it is not a straight cut, but an angled one which is a bit different from what I had before.
Also, I like scars. I love the scars on my ankle and would never do anything to get rid or minimize them (which is a good thing because one of them is more than 5 in long which would be hard to minimize). So I would prefer it if the cut did leave a scar. Does that make me weird?
Naw, it doesn't make you weird. I like my scars too. (On second thought, being like me probably is not a sign on non-weirdness, so I should probably not comment).
My younger niece had to be superglued from splitting her head on Halloween 2005 (has a cute scar across her forehead which my sister-in-law is worried about)and for a long time afterward my older niece had all of her legos/dolls/animals she played with getting cuts and getting glued. Friend have done it at home and it seems to work for them as well as Mario.
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