Do you have a physical job? Do you spend your weekends performing DIY work around the home? Then you might suffer an injury at some point in the future. Regardless of your expertise, things can go wrong from time to time. So, you need to know how to deal with severe cuts and wounds to ensure you get things right. The last thing you want to do is pass out because you’ve lost too much blood. The advice on this page should guarantee that never happens. Of course, you need to use some common sense too. If the wound is very deep and you’re losing a lot of blood, you might have to call an ambulance as soon as possible. At the very least, you should call medical services and ask for advice.
Wash and clean the cut with clean, warm water
The first thing you should do is make sure you don’t have any dirt or grime in the cut. The process is simple, and you just need to hold the affected area under a tap. That is the case whether you’ve hurt yourself shaving or something worse. You should then rinse the wound with warm water for around ten minutes. That should help to ensure there is nothing dodgy in the cut. Repeat the process a couple of times and get a magnifying glass if you have any concerns. At the end of the day, it all depends on how you sustained the injury. If you’ve cut yourself with sharp metal, you shouldn’t need to worry. However, the same isn’t true if the injury has come from wood or a material of that nature.
Use a numbing cream if the pain is too great
Every man should keep numbing cream in his first aid box. That solution will help to ease any pain you might feel from the injury. It’s often used by nurses in hospitals too. So, you know it’s going to work well. There are many different types of creams available on the market today. If you have to go out and buy some, you should explain your situation to the chemist. People in that profession have lots of knowledge about cuts and wounds. Tell them how you sustained the injury, and then ask them for recommendations. In most instances, the numbing cream should be enough to stop the pain long enough for paracetamol to kick take effect. If it doesn’t, just keep reapplying it until your painkillers kick in.
Wrap the cut in cloth and hold it in the air
In severe situations, you might start to lose a lot of blood. That can happen if the wound slices through an artery or something similar. Indeed, you could lose pints of blood in only a few minutes. That is why you need to act fast and follow this advice. Before you do anything else, wrap a cloth or t-shirt around the affected area. Apply as much pressure as possible to stop the flow of fluid. You then need to raise the injured limb and keep it in the air for as long as possible. That should prevent you from passing out before help arrives. In that instance, you should always ask someone to call an ambulance straight away. Every second counts.
Get to the hospital as soon as possible
As we’ve just mentioned, sometimes there is no alternative but to go to the hospital. You can either ask a friend to drive you there or call for assistance. We have an overworked health service in the UK. For that reason, you should only call 999 if you’re in a life-threatening situation. So, you need to make a quick assessment before deciding on the best course of action. Just use some common sense when it comes to doing that. If you can see litres of blood or an incredibly deep wound, you’ll need to get to the hospital as soon as possible. In that situation, nobody will think ill of you for calling an ambulance. However, when the wound is relatively minor, you should try to make your way to the hospital.
You should now have enough info to ensure you always deal with cuts and wounds in the correctly. Remember to put that advice into action when the worst occurs. If you spend sufficient time around tools, you’re going to hurt yourself at some point. That doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing. It just means the law of averages says that accidents will occur. So, don’t beat yourself up too much when it happens. Even the best of us will slip up sometimes.