Nasty cut on the chin

[Tici]

My DD had a fall at the playground today and cut her chin on the step.

It was a bit of a gash , not extremely deep but enough for us to take her to the doctor's to see if she needed a stitch.

She didn't need the stitches - phew. But got the little butterfly sticky things put on to hold it together.

Now that she is asleep , I've got the night time worries. :o Thinking about tetanus.

The wound bled quite a bit and was quite clean looking.

I gave her SA when we came home , probably not enough now though I'm thinking.

THis playground is next to a dog park , and I've heard that tetanus likes faeces ,so I'm worried about that too.

The doc just seemed to dab it a bit, had a good look and then stickied it up.

I'm just reading here about putting the hydrogen peroxide on and worried that I didn't do that. Can I do it first thing in the morning or is it too late then?

[cartersmom]

My DD had a fall at the playground today and cut her chin on the step.

It was a bit of a gash , not extremely deep but enough for us to take her to the doctor's to see if she needed a stitch.

She didn't need the stitches - phew. But got the little butterfly sticky things put on to hold it together.

Now that she is asleep , I've got the night time worries. :o Thinking about tetanus.

The wound bled quite a bit and was quite clean looking.

I gave her SA when we came home , probably not enough now though I'm thinking.

THis playground is next to a dog park , and I've heard that tetanus likes faeces ,so I'm worried about that too.

The doc just seemed to dab it a bit, had a good look and then stickied it up.

I'm just reading here about putting the hydrogen peroxide on and worried that I didn't do that. Can I do it first thing in the morning or is it too late then?

Based on your description of the wound and that it bled alot I would not worry about tetanus at all.

[Nirvana]

My DD had the exact same fall twice before she was 2.5 years old. The same place too! I had no idea about Hydrogen peroxide that time and I was even told that the Hydrogen peroxide kills the healthy skin cells too so I was anyways too scared to try it at that time.

The nurses wanted to do stitches but I was sure it was not that bad. Plus she was not even 2 years old when she hurt herself the first time! I was worried, scared, confused, anxious and could not imagine getting her stitches.

We just cleaned the wound with betadine, applied Steristrips, upped her Vitamin C and gave Arnica. I wish I had butterfly bandages back then.

The second time she landed on the bathroom floor and the cut was deeper and wider. This time I did not go to the doctors and just handled it at home. This time too I knew it was a superficial cut and would not need stitches.

I think you have done all that you can. So just try to relax and let her body do it's thing. You will be fine :bighug::hug: and so will she.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

My DD had a fall at the playground today and cut her chin on the step.

It was a bit of a gash , not extremely deep but enough for us to take her to the doctor's to see if she needed a stitch.

She didn't need the stitches - phew. But got the little butterfly sticky things put on to hold it together.

Now that she is asleep , I've got the night time worries. :o Thinking about tetanus.

The wound bled quite a bit and was quite clean looking.

I gave her SA when we came home , probably not enough now though I'm thinking.

THis playground is next to a dog park , and I've heard that tetanus likes faeces ,so I'm worried about that too.

The doc just seemed to dab it a bit, had a good look and then stickied it up.

I'm just reading here about putting the hydrogen peroxide on and worried that I didn't do that. Can I do it first thing in the morning or is it too late then?

What did you do to the wound when you got home?

What do you carry in the car by means of an emergency first aid kit?

[Tici]

What did you do to the wound when you got home?

Nothing. It was taped up.


What do you carry in the car by means of an emergency first aid kit?



Very good question, putting one together as we speak that is staying permanently in there.

With hydrogen peroxide I've just read this ;


Hydrogen peroxide is not necessary to adequately clean a wound. The bubbling action of hydrogen peroxide creates oxygen gas -- more than blood can handle. Surgeons using hydrogen peroxide to clean deep surgical wounds have accidentally triggered gas bubbles in the bloodstream (known as a gas embolism), a potentially deadly condition. Very little evidence exists to show the effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide on minor lacerations, and plenty of evidence is published on the merits of plain old water -- so just use water.Load of bollocks ? They probably were using tonnes of the stuff ?


I've just taken the dressing off her wound, it doesnt look nice. Hubby has been to chemist to het the Hydrogen Peroxide.

Do you dab it on, pour a little on ??

Been searching the net but can't find anything on application.

[Wonder-Full]

What doesn't look good about the wound?

[Tici]

Just had another good look. It's probably just me. Hubby thinks it looks fine. I just feel it looks all .. well, pussie is not the word, but it's all bit grey brown gooey around the area of the straight cut.

[Sarah]

Have you got any manuka honey? If so you can put that on the cut, then cover with gauze. It allows the wound to remain moist while healing and prevents bacterial growth if there is any infection, it is a great anti-bacterial.

[Wonder-Full]

So when you say taped up - is it oered (sorry, keys not working, hope you an read that) up or just strips sealing the ut together but kept skin eposed? When dd ut her knee a day later the edge of the ut went grey and puss-y looking but really I think it was just dead skin remoing from it. I used manuka honey and it lifted off the gross stuff when I remoed the plaster and left just pink skin around it (not red and flared).

With the HP I just poured it on rather than dabbed, but I think if you saturate a loth you ould dab - I just found it hard to find a loth that wouldn't absorb all the liquid - so found pouring atually used less and felt it would work it's way in better.

[Tici]

Wonder-full - yes I got you, no C hey ?? :giggle:It was just taped up with those strips.
Taken all that off now and I have put the hydrogen on just now.

I am not going to tape it back up I'll let it air out today.

Upped the SA big time, her breakfast was laden with it.

Will do the manuka honey over night , I forgot about that one , thanks Sarah.

And just going back - how the doc taped it up, should you not tape up wounds ?
He was telling me it would scar it it wasn't taped up. :confused:

By taped up I mean those little strips to keep wound together and then a sticky gauze over top so she didnt pull them off.

[Wonder-Full]

Nope, it's best to oer the wound. After leaning with HP, dab on some manuka honey and oer with a plaster and keep it oered. If it airs it will dry, sab and probably keep ripping the wound. hek out my post that I started about 4wks ago where I went through something similar.

[Wonder-Full]

ps: it's in Other Health - Trauma. There are a few honey posts in there. I would opy it but of ourse ant' without the " " lol.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

My first reaction is that if the doctor wasn't worried, then that's a plus.

Under the circumstances you describe in the first post, I would have walked to the car and got out my first aid kit. I have saline solution in there, in snap top containers. I would snap open a 50 mls saline solution, and a swab of some sort.

When our older son did his chin, I used a small "soft-hair" brush, because he split his chin open on a fine gravel road.. - I've lots of paint brushes, and they can be useful.

The child would be laid down, chin up, and using saline solution, I would wash the wound out. Using a magnifying glass, I would see if there were any grit particles in there. They are seen as black specks. If there are, I would try to flush them out with saline first, and if that didn't shift them, with hydrogen peroxide. That froths most of them to the surface. I just put the Hydrogen peroxide 50/50 in water, and use a cotton pad thing (not cotton wool) but the doctor who told me about this, doesn't water it down. She uses 6% straight.

The grit that didn't come out that way, I got out with tweezers.

Both my children cooperate, so screaming carrying on children aren't an issue in this house. That also depends on age. If they are in yours, you'd have to work out what you would can do, as opposed to what you want to do.

With our older son, there was a large flap that he had ripped downwards. It took me 40 minutes to clean out the flap and the flesh, and then I used butterfly strips to hold the two together. We did go to the doctor, but he didn't think there was too much of an issue.. he was pleased with the cleaning I had done. he did ask our son to go back the next morning to check if there was infection, but there was none.

No, you don't stitch, because that doesn't allow any particles in there to flush out with the fluid that the wound creates. You wantto flush out particles in that clear fluid, and for the wound to fix itself from the inside out. Stitching stops grit being flushed out, and traps it deeper in the wound.

Depending where it is, you can use a form of paranet with honey over the top. You can make a fabric chin guard really easy, or make your child into a mummy.

Every wound, no matter how minor, should be checked, any dirt removed, and cleaned out, ....at the very least with saline solution.

These are really handy to have... I've had snap off saline solution for years now. Was great to take to cricket games, and wash stuff out of grazes as well.... it doesn't sting like water, and the saline is actually necessary for the immune system in the skin to work properly. That's why clean sea water can heal very well.

Saline solution may be all that is needed in small cuts or grazes. But they may then need to be protected from dirty little fingers, and other messy things which children are so great at infecting cuts with.

with our son, over the next few weeks, tiny bits of grit, surrounded by white stuff worked out up through the surface, and there is now only a fine white line there, where the two surface edges met.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Actually, I'm wondering if we should do a thread on this sort of thing, because cuts and grazes can blindside people. Also, perhaps what we know now, is no longer common knowledge.

What else should we cover in this?

[Tici]

Thanks MT.

I think a thread on wound cleaning would be very useful.

And the neccesities of a first aid kit as well.

Hydrogen peroxide
Saline solution
cotton pads
tweezers
? ?

[betach]

Was a general thread on wound cleaning and other wound care ever done? if so, what is the title of it?

We had some excitement with a three/four year old (can't remember exact age now). Her pinky finger got caught in the hinge of a heavy door. Was a near-amputation - the top part of finger (till a bit above highest knuckle) was hanging.. not knowing otherwise, we took her straight to the ER. Would others have done differently?
Just curious.. figured it doesn't help to learn.. Though hopefully won't have such excitement!

They stitched her finger- had to make her conk out- or otherwise b/c of her moving around they said it would go on crooked..
It healed fine.. except her nail didn't grow back all the way. There seems to be a homeopathic remedy that could help with this..

[betach]

If the thread was not yet done, perhaps a section can include when it is necessary to have stitches and when not. Also, when wound should be kept dry and when wet.