How Do You Know If a Wound Needs Stitches or Can Heal on Its Own?
Injuries like cuts and wounds can happen in a split second. When they do, it’s important not to panic and determine the best course of treatment. While mild injuries can sometimes be treated effectively at home, there are many circumstances where an injury requires evaluation and treatment from a doctor to ensure proper healing and to prevent complications like infection.
If you’ve suffered a cut, it’s better to be safe than sorry and seek medical treatment. At Priority 1 Urgent Care, our doctors are available 7 days a week to provide rapid care for a variety of wounds and injuries. We provide basic wound evaluation and care, and routinely sew up various injuries in the office. Simply walk in for rapid same-day care, or save a spot online below.
Why Do Some Wounds Need Stitches?
Minor cuts are not a major injury. They can happen easily in everyday life, and sometimes will heal on their own with time. However, larger cuts may require stitches to close. Stitches physically close the opening in the skin and tissue, preventing further debris and infection from entering the wound, helping to ensure it heals properly. Larger wounds, or wounds that occurred on dirty or contaminated surfaces often require stitches and must be properly cleaned by a medical professional to prevent an infection from forming. Debris can sometimes get deep inside of a wound and very often cause complications that delay or prevent the normal healing process.
Scenarios When a Cut Requires Stitches
Not all injuries require stitches. If your injury is small, surface level, and the bleeding can easily be controlled, you may not need stitches. However, the following circumstances usually determine that you should seek medical care to have the injury cleaned and potentially stitched up by a doctor:
The object that injured you was dirty or rusty
The bleeding won’t stop after a few minutes of applying firm pressure
You can see bone
The cut is in a sensitive area like the face
The cut is on a joint or a highly mobile area on the body
The injury is the result of an animal bite
At-Home Care for a Minor Cut That Doesn’t Require Stitches
If your injury doesn’t fit the criteria above, you may be able to treat it at home effectively. However, if you’re not sure whether your injury requires stitches, you should still seek immediate medical care. Stitches promote proper healing, but are usually not used after the wound has begun healing on its own.
If you have a minor cut, you should make sure you keep it clean by washing it with warm soapy water. Keep the wound clean and dry, and cover it during the first few days of healing to encourage the wound to heal more effectively. Over the counter topical antibiotic ointments like bacitracin can be applied in the first few days of healing to help reduce the chances of infection.
Visit Priority 1 Urgent Care for Same-Day Care for Cuts Requiring Stitches
There are many circumstances which may indicate that an injury requires stitches. If your injury meets any of the criteria discussed above, or you’re simply unsure, you should seek immediate medical evaluation and care. Stitches ideally need to be done within a few hours of an injury, before the injury starts closing on its own.
At Priority 1 Urgent Care, our team of doctors is trained to provide basic injury evaluation and care, including stitching up various kinds of wounds. Skip the long wait times at the ER and visit Priority 1 Urgent Care for minor injuries like cuts that require stitches. Our practice is open 7 days a week, and has short wait times. We work with most medical insurance plans, and have affordable rates for self-paying patients. To learn more, walk into the clinic or give our team a call at (518) 867-8040.