– How do doctors measure a cut to determine if it needs stitches or a bandaid? What’s the process, etc?

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– How do doctors measure a cut to determine if it needs stitches or a bandaid? What’s the process, etc?

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The general ‘rules’ are if a cut is longer and/or deeper than half a inch, deep enough to see muscle, fat or bone, or if it is wide or gaping, or doesn’t stop bleeding.

For the rest it’s up to the doctor, he has the experience with wounds and how they heal. He can then advise if sutures, patches, glue or just a bandage is best for the healing and possible scars.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Like onions and ogres, people have layers.

Epidermis (dead skin)
Dermis (live skin)
Sub cutaneous fat (fat under skin)
Fascia (thin layer of tough connective tissue. Think of it like cling film)
Muscle
Bone

Its not to do with how deep a wound is in terms of distance, its more to do with how many layers its gone through.
Most small cuts are just down to dermis.
Any yellow fat poking through and it gets closed. This may or may not requires stiches. If it’s small, a bit of glue, or even wound strips will do.
If it goes through fascia, we stick that up, and then stich up the dermis.
Cuts on the pam can be quite deep in terms of distance, but not go through many layers.
Cuts on the shinbone can be shallow but need stitches.

The idea of using stitches is that by forcing the sides of a cut together, it puts pressure on the small vessels, stopping bleeding. It also brings the healthier tissue closer together, so it can heal by “primary intention” i.e. from the bottom up. It also stops infection.

When wounds are shallow, but over a large area, it gets more specialist with skin grafts and stuff. Same with burns. The same may apply if a wound isnt a neat line – if its jagged or torn etc.

If in doubt see a doc.
If a wound smells or oozes pus, see a doc
If a wound gets red hot and angry, see a doc
If a wound doesnt heal for an unusually long period of time, see a doc.