How to tell if a cut is infected?

Question

My friends and I were playing with display swords that were dulled but sharp enough to pierce the skin. He stabbed my finger and the wound is about 2mm deep and it is swollen. It isn't that red and hurts when you put pressure on it. Please help

Answer 1

You can usually tell if an infection is present by redness, pain when you touch,...more telling is if the site becomes foul smelling, and puss starts to come out of the site. A great way to guage what you have now is to take a pen and mark the red area. Make a nice circle on top of where the red area meets normal color. If you see the next day the red area has passed your marked line, you may be getting an infection. The only true way to know would be a wound culture. From what you have described, you do not have an infection. Apply triple antibiotic ointment to the site and leave it open to air. Try to avoid betadine and or alcohol as that is a cytotoxic agent which will only do more damage to the skin cells now trying to heal

Answer 2

When you hose it, what does it look like? If it is infected it will not be forming a coat of epithelium over the raw tissue. The wound bed will have exudate in it, that keeps the wound overly moist and will have a yellowed appearance rather than a red or pink appearance. If there is a bacterial infection, there will be thick pus forming. If the wound bed tissue is rising above the level of the skin, there may be proud flesh developing. If this is from a kick, then there may be significant damage to soft tissues beneath the obvious skin wound. Is there any swelling beneath it? There could be a hematoma or abscess forming, and you would see swelling either directly beneath the wound or just below it. Furazone is considered to be an antiquated treatment and is no longer recommended. All open wounds should be thoroughly flushed with sterile isotonic (0.9%) saline solution using about 15 lbs of pressure, and then left open to air or dressed with Vetericyn hydrogel or EMT collagen gel. No other products used in the past are recommended. They are cytotoxic (kill healthy cells needed for healing and those dead cells become food for bacteria, which promotes infection) or they elicit immune rejection responses that slow healing. The flushing and dressing of the wound is repeated as often as necessary. If any signs of infection are present, call your vet for advice. You can buy isotonic saline at your local drug store, and EMT is sold at farm and tractor supply stores, or Vetericyn and EMT may be sold at local tack shops. Both are sold online. Add per Betadine................ The antiseptic function of iodine has been proven to be inactivated almost immediately upon contact with serum in wounds, and iodine is also cytotoxic at any concentration over 1% in solution (Betadine is a 10% solution). It is no longer recommended for treatment of open wounds. You can mix 1 part Betadine into 9 parts isotonic saline to prevent cytotoxicity, but the antimicrobial effects haven't been shown to be improved significantly enough over that of saline alone to warrant it.

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

Signs of infection include pain and soreness, warmth around the area, swelling and redness of the wound and surrounding area, pus oozing from the wound, fever (if infection persists), swelling and tenderness of the lymph glands.

Have you been immunized against tetanus? The tetanus immunization lasts for about 10 years. It is a potentially fatal disease caused by tetanus bacteria. The bacteria enters through an open wound and hits the bodies nervous system.

Dress your wound with a sterile bandage. Elevate and immobilise, and seek medical attention. You may need an oral antibiotic.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

an infected cut will be deep red, swelled, and very painfull when touched. It will also have red "trails" or lines leading away from it in the surrounding skin.
you will also ( usually) be running a low grade fever, and the longer it is ignored, a high grade fever. ( when the high grade fever occurs, you will have the chills and be pouring sweat at the same time and feel like you have the flu and ache all over ) ..
it will also be filling up with pus, usually deep yellow/brown or in bad cases green..

Answer 7

If you start to notice it doesn't heal quickly or has pain to the touch and you didn't clean and bandage it properly in the beginning then it may be infected

Answer 8

Some of the signs of infected wound are:
1)Surrounding inflammation /redness
2)Wound discharging serous fluid/ pus
3)Surrounding skin swelling
4)Surrounding skin discoloration like turning blue/black
5)Pain
6)Wound with dead tissues-slough

Answer 9

Get the infection sorted out by dipping your finger into a hot tea made from the herb thyme, until the water cools - it's the strongest antiseptic in the herbal list - when the infection is gone use calendula to let the skin grow back - if you use that too soon it will heal the skin right over the infected sore and trust me you do not want that!

Answer 10

It's especially obvious if the pus is thick and kinda green, a bit like half dried snot. That was my pus when my fingernail cut my fingers.