Want more iVillage? Sign up for our
Newsletters
Cuts
About this symptom
Cuts are open wounds through the skin. Normally the skin is under slight, constant tension as it covers the body. A cut is a forceful injury to the skin. Many people accidentally cut themselves with household or work items, yard tools, or when operating machinery. Children often are cut during play and sports activities, or from falls while riding wheeled toys, such as bikes, scooters, or skateboards. Most cuts are minor and home treatment is usually all that is needed.
Cuts can be caused by:
- Blunt objects that tear or crush the skin (lacerations
). These cuts are more common over bony
areas, such as a finger, hand, knee, or foot, but they can occur anywhere on
the body. Blunt object injuries usually cause more swelling and tissue damage
and leave jagged edges, so problems with healing may
occur. - Sharp-edged objects pressing into and slicing the skin tissue (incised wounds). Sharp object injuries are more likely to cut deeper and damage underlying tissue.
- Sharp-edged objects piercing the skin
tissue (stab or
puncture wounds ).
- A combination of blunt and sharp forces from objects that tear, crush, and slice the skin tissue.
Some types of cuts are more serious and need medical evaluation and treatment. These more serious cuts include:
- Long or deep cuts.
- Cuts that open with movement of the body area, such as a cut over a joint. A cut over a joint may take a long time to heal because of the movement of the wound edges.
- Cuts that may scar and affect the appearance or function of a body area. A cut on an eyelid or lip which doesn't heal well may interfere with function or leave a noticeable scar.
- Cuts that remove all of the layers of the skin (avulsion injuries), such as slicing off the tip of a finger. An avulsion injury may take a long time to heal.
- Cuts from an animal or human bite. Infection is more likely with a bite injury.
- Cuts that have damage to underlying tissues. Injuries to nerves, tendons, or joints are more common with cuts on the hands or feet.
- Cuts over a possible broken bone. Bacteria can get into a cut over a broken bone and infect the bone.
- Cuts caused by a crushing injury. With this type of injury, the cut may have occurred when the skin split open from the force of the injury. The force of the injury may also damage underlying tissues and blood vessels. Crush injuries have a high risk of infection.
- Cuts with a known or suspected object, such as glass or wood, in the wound.
Cuts to the head or face may appear worse than they are and bleed a lot because of the good blood supply to this area. Controlling the bleeding will allow you to determine the seriousness of the injury. For more information, see Are Stitches, Staples, or Skin Adhesives Necessary?
When you have a cut:
- Stop the bleeding. For more information see
how to stop bleeding .
- Determine whether other tissues, such as blood vessels, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, bones, or internal organs, have been injured.
- Determine whether evaluation and treatment by a doctor is needed.
- Clean the wound and remove any dirt or debris to prevent infections, both bacterial skin infections and tetanus ("lockjaw").
- Determine whether you need a tetanus shot.
Use the Check Your Symptoms section to decide if and when you should see a doctor.
| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: June 10, 2010 |
| Medical Review: | William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine David Messenger, MD | |
© 1995-2011 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
Welcome to Care Circle, an exclusive tool to help you take care of yourself and your loved ones. Here's how it works:
- Create profiles for yourself and your loved ones.
- Select the topics and conditions that interest each of you.
- Get customized news updates, original content, tools, and expert advice for each Care Circle member delivered directly to your personalized homepage.
The information you input is strictly private; you choose who has access to your Care Circle.
How do I add myself or someone else to my care circle?
Click on "Add someone." Fill out the short profile. Choose an avatar. Select the topics and conditions that interest this person from the pulldown menu. You can select as many as you want, but you must choose at least one. Click on "Add Someone" again. You should start getting updates immediately.
How do I save content to my Care Circle?
Click on "Manage My Care Circle." Select the tab of the person for whom you're saving content. Put your cursor over the piece of content that you want to save; a disk icon will appear in the righthand corner. Click on the disk and the piece of content will be moved to a save folder.
How do I add additional topics and conditions for someone in my Care Circle?
Click on "Manage My Care Circle." Select the tab for the person whose preferences you'd like to update. Under "Add More to Follow," select additional topics and conditions.
How do I delete topics and conditions for someone in my Care Circle?
Click on "Manage My Care Circle." Select the tab for the person whose preferences you'd like to update. Under "Follows," scroll over the topic or condition you want to delete. An "X" should appear on the righthand side. Click on the "X" and the topic or condition will be deleted from the list.
To manage your Care Circle, Please
Sign In.
from
- Facebook is now fueling organ donations
- Military women and suicide: Home safe but not sound
- Still in gear: Injuries don’t stop veterans on 100-day bike trek
- Ask Jenna: I've hit a weight loss plateau. What do I do?
- He poses in a tutu to laugh in face of wife's cancer
- After chemo hair loss, 'henna crowns' help heal
The iVillage Network