Stitches question! Do I need them??

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I was just cutting lemons & limes for a party I'm doing tomorrow and I cut the side of my finger pretty bad. Its pretty deep, and goes in on an angel. How bad does it have to be to get stitches? I really don't want to go to the hospital, but it really hurts!!

TIA

PS - It took about 10-15 minutes to stop bleeding.

 

[thegrimdwarf]

I would recommend you get it stitched - hand wounds get infected really easily, and the infection can go into your bone pretty quickly (which can be fatal). Better to play it safe.

Darn lemons!

 

[honkytonkmama]

Eh, I have had a few cuts like that. I am a TOTAL kluts, lol. Keep it REALLY really clean. For the 1st few days leave a bandaid on it all the time. then only leave it uncovered if you are not gonna be doing anything. Like when you are just sitting watching tv or anything. It should not take too long to heal.

 

[tink2]

You might want to try liquid band aid or some sort of 'glue' that can be used to keep it together. My brother went to the er for a cut one time and they just used some sort of super glue for it. If you used liquid band aid, I'd still use a regular band aid to cover it and keep it clean.

 

[MKB419]

I was just cutting lemons & limes for a party I'm doing tomorrow and I cut the side of my finger pretty bad. Its pretty deep, and goes in on an angel. How bad does it have to be to get stitches? I really don't want to go to the hospital, but it really hurts!!

TIA

PS - It took about 10-15 minutes to stop bleeding.

Hi
I will try to help, it's a little hard when you can't see the cut. If the bleeding continues to stop hopefully that will be the last of it. There is an antibiotic cream with a pain relief component to it. CVS makes one . The worry is that it keeps opening.Banaid makes a liquid bandaid that works pretty well almost like a Dermabond(medical crazy glue). If it contiues to bleed or cause alot of pain you should seek medical attention. Hope this helps and you feel better soon.
MKB

 

[Neesy228]

I had a light fixture fall on my head a few years ago. My head split and bled for nearly 4 hours. My DH was adamant that we go to the hospital, but we were living in a new town, knew no one and had a 9 month old son that we would have had to take care of at the ER. We didn't go. My head healed. I probably did need stitches....

SO, the moral of my very long story is that if you're concerned, then you can go and have them check it out. I would think that they would probably do liquid stitches. But I would think if you clean it well and are careful, you'll be fine.

It's going to hurt like crazy if you get stitches or not. Hope you're feeling better quickly!

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I had a light fixture fall on my head a few years ago. My head split and bled for nearly 4 hours. My DH was adamant that we go to the hospital, but we were living in a new town, knew no one and had a 9 month old son that we would have had to take care of at the ER. We didn't go. My head healed. I probably did need stitches....

SO, the moral of my very long story is that if you're concerned, then you can go and have them check it out. I would think that they would probably do liquid stitches. But I would think if you clean it well and are careful, you'll be fine.

It's going to hurt like crazy if you get stitches or not. Hope you're feeling better quickly!

Ow - darn, that one takes the cake!!! Anyway, after appying presure for some time, and not using it (just sitting here really) it seems to have closed up pretty well. Whenever Dh gets a bad cut, he always uses plain old super glue, but I thought that was just him!!!! If it re-opens again, though I don't see that happening, I'll get that medical super glue. DH is a pharmacist, maybe he can bring some home for me. I just can't believe I did this!!! I have a huge party tomorrow, and I have a baseball game tonight - talk about great timing!! DH is also mad at me because yesterday I was backing up my clients driveway in HIS truck and ripped off his gas cap on their fence, so this was just like the cherry on the pie of this week! Thanks everyone for all your help!

 

[pjynx]

A few months ago I had a guacamole incident. Cut my hand really badly while removing the pit from the avacado. The knife point went all the way through my hand to the other side. Luckily, I missed anything major. Had the med-center still been open, I would have gone for stitches. But it was already closed for the night and I didn't want to go all the way to the hospital and sit for hours. The bleeding stopped after about 15 minutes and I did not lose any movement or feeling, so I decided not to go.

The bleeding started again the following morning, so I went to the med-center and the dr there told me that he's heard from hand surgeons that they try NOT to do stiches on hands unless absolutely necessary. If they can tape it up real good, even if it's not perfect, they skip stiches.

So I think as long as you can still feel everything and move everything and the bleeding has stopped, you should be fine. Just clean it well and tape the 2 sides together with steri-strips.

 

[hugabearjo]

I can't see your hand but, the fact that it stopped bleeding is a great sign. I too advocate for superglue. My son had cut his head and instead of stitches they super glued it at the ER. I asked the DR. and he said it was marketed as "medical" super glue but you could buy the same thing at a hardware store. We have since superglued many a cut. But, please please please clean it out really well with hydrogen proxide and soap and water.

I sure hope you feel better soon. Hand cuts are so painful. We don't realize how much we use our hands until it hurts.