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How are Cuts & Scrapes Treated at an Urgent Care Clinic?
by Artisans of Medicine NYC Quality & Affordable Healthcare in NYC
Your skin is your body’s largest organ that helps to regulate your body temperature and keep body fluid in and bacteria out. It also acts as a first-alert system by warning you of potential problems on feeling heat or pain. Be it a cut, scrape or puncture, anything that breaks and damages the outer protective layer of the skin is considered a wound. Anytime the protective shield of your skin is affected, it may lead to a risk of infection.
That’s why it is important to understand when these small injuries can be treated at home and when you should get immediate medical attention at the best urgent care clinic. In this article, you’ll learn how to get the best first aid for your minor cuts and scrapes and will know the signs of infection which indicate that you must get medical care. Furthermore, we will explore the right treatment procedure for serious cuts and scrapes.
What Causes Cuts and Scrapes?
When your skin is accidentally worn away or broken, it may result in a cut or scrape. This may be caused due to a fall, banging against a hard object or being cut by any sharp object. Children, older adults, and people who have delicate skin due to certain medications or illnesses are more prone to get these injuries than others.
First Aid for a Minor Cut and Scrape
While minor cuts or scrapes don’t always require professional medical care, it is better to consult your urgent care doctor to prevent infection or other complications. Here are a few steps you can take if the injury is not serious.
- Clean the wound with cool water to remove the dirt and reduce the risk of infection.
- Apply a continuous, gentle pressure with a clean and soft cloth or bandage for a few minutes to stop bleeding.
- Lightly dab the injured area to make it dry and apply a thin layer of antibiotic ointment.
- Cover the wound with a bandage to keep it clean and infection-free.
- Change the dressing once a day or whenever a bandage becomes wet.
- If the wound is deep, get a tetanus shot.
- If you notice the wound isn’t healing, watch for the signs of infection like increased pain, drainage, redness, warmth or swelling and visit a walk-in clinic.
When to Get Medical Care from Urgent Care Doctors?
Sometimes it is difficult to understand if the cut or scrape needs first aid care or medical treatment. You should get urgent care from your walk-in doctor if you notice any of the following symptoms:
- The bleeding won’t stop after imposing continuous pressure.
- The wound is very long or deep enough to expose the dermis.
- Caused by an animal or human bite.
- Extremely painful and ragged around the edges.
- Caused by sharp, pointed, dirty or rusty object.
- Appear on the face or close to the eyes.
- Swelling over a bone or joint
- Feel numbness on the injured area.
Signs of Infection
A skin infection happens when the white blood cells in your body need to fight with too many germs. How will you tell if your wound is healing properly? If your cut or scrape is infected, you may notice one or more of these signs of infection.
- Pus or cloudy fluid drainage from the wound
- Increased pain, swelling or warmth in the affected area
- Redness around the wound
- Fever
- Foul odor from the infected area
If any of these signs appear, your injury needs immediate attention of an urgent care doctor.
How to Treat a Cut and Scrape?
Depending on the severity of the cut, your doctor may stitch or staple the injured area to stop the bleeding and help the healing process. After checking and cleaning the wound, the walk-in doctor may numb the area and apply stitches by threading sutures. The doctor may also use tissue adhesive to fuse together the edges of the wound. Some stitches dissolve on their own while others need to be removed.
Sometimes the cut is not deep enough for stitches or occur on the face. In this case, steri-strips or butterfly strips may be used by the doctor. These are fine, thin and sticky strips that fall off on their own. For minimizing scarring, skin glue is a better alternative that goes on quickly and painlessly.
The important part of treating a scrape is cleansing. Unlike cuts, scrapes are not deep injuries but should be cleaned regularly while healing to avoid scab from getting too hard. Your doctor may use antibiotic ointment and a bandage containing antibiotic padding while dressing the wound.
If you have accidentally cut yourself and are bleeding or if you get bitten or scratched and looking for the best Brooklyn urgent care clinic, visit Artisans of Medicine today! Our walk-in doctors will examine the injured area to check for its severity and provide the best treatment to help your wound heal quickly.
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About Artisans of Medicine NYC 
Quality & Affordable Healthcare in NYC
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Created on Jun 24th 2019 01:23. Viewed 741 times.
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