Any of you survivalists ever stitch up your own wound?

Status
Not open for further replies.
this was my attempt this summer, only had one hand to do it.
IMGP0053.jpg

IMGP0054.jpg
 
I don't stitch stuff up myself, just not prepared to deal with infections. I generally just stop the bleeding and tape, or stop the bleeding and leave it open with guaze overtop.

But I can tell you that a doctor up here (I have no insurance either) only charged me a hundred bucks to patch everything up after I got an axe stuck in my kneecap one time, so it could be a lot cheaper than you think!
 
Attempting your own medical treatment is in the same class of activities as representing yourself in court. Foolish.
 
jh205 said:
Attempting your own medical treatment is in the same class of activities as representing yourself in court. Foolish.
Click to expand...

That's a valid opinion.
However, this being the Wilderness and Survival forum, it is understood by most who posted here that professional medical help is not always readily available...
 
One of the best ways to fix up cuts in the South American jungle is to use the large leaf cutting ants. The big soldier ants have huge pincers. You close the wound, grab an ant and apply its pincer to both sides of the wound. He bites down closing the wound and then you cut his head off. The row of ant heads clamping the wound down look like so many stitches. An added convenience is the fact that the ants' mouths exude formic acid which is a great antiseptic.
 
As a doctor who has cut himself a few times in the woods, I can tell you I never closed one of my wounds in the field.

My wife is also a doc, and she has fixed me up once at home. (We have all of the necessary sterile supplies to do this). Closing a contaminated/ dirty wound in the field is very dangerous. Infection is the biggest problem with any wound.

The only time I would even consider closing a wound in the field is if blood loss might kill me (even then the wound would not get fully closed).

I have managed many wounds in SHTF scenarios (post Katrina and Rita New Orleans). Do not close a wound unless you REALLY know what you are doing. I was working with many docs in New Orleans and only one person closed a wound with sutures in the field (he was a radiologist who was later told by several others it was not a good idea).

In the field, cleaning the wound and stopping blood loss are the primary goals. Preventing infection, by keeping the wound clean, is the main goal until you get out. If you do not think you are going to get out in a timely manner, suturing a dirty or contaminated wound (that would be all of them outside of a planned surgery), can be a very foolish thing.

For those out there with no insurance, there are docs out there who will help you out if you find them.
 
I 100mph taped my hand up once, and it worked like a champ. I still have some very small fragments of rock under my skin, but I couldn't get to a medic or to the hospital. If I could have, then I would have let them take care of it properly.
 
However, this being the Wilderness and Survival forum, it is understood by most who posted here that professional medical help is not always readily available...
Click to expand...

I understand that, but the OP explicitly stated that he was stitching himself because he couldn't be bothered waiting a few hours in the ER and didn't want to spend the money on it. Its a classic case of being penny wise, pound foolish, except that in this case the OP is risking life and limb as well as money. I have plenty of experience with people who willfully ignore sound professional advice and they always come out the worse for it - often much, much worse.
 
Plus another one for superglue. I have used it many times after cutting my self at work. It works great, the only downside is it takes a bit longer to heal (due to lack of oxygen I believe). So superglue for a day or two, then when it won't bleed anymore, put a bandage on it.
 
jh205 said:
I understand that, but the OP explicitly stated that he was stitching himself because he couldn't be bothered waiting a few hours in the ER and didn't want to spend the money on it. Its a classic case of being penny wise, pound foolish, except that in this case the OP is risking life and limb as well as money. I have plenty of experience with people who willfully ignore sound professional advice and they always come out the worse for it - often much, much worse.
Click to expand...

You are correct. My original response was not to the OP and this caused me to disregard the OP's post, to which your responses were most certainly valid.:)
 
You are correct. My original response was not to the OP and this caused me to disregard the OP's post, to which your responses were most certainly valid.
Click to expand...

No worries mate.
 
Hog Feet said:
As a doctor who has cut himself a few times in the woods, I can tell you I never closed one of my wounds in the field.

My wife is also a doc, and she has fixed me up once at home. (We have all of the necessary sterile supplies to do this). Closing a contaminated/ dirty wound in the field is very dangerous. Infection is the biggest problem with any wound.

The only time I would even consider closing a wound in the field is if blood loss might kill me (even then the wound would not get fully closed).

I have managed many wounds in SHTF scenarios (post Katrina and Rita New Orleans). Do not close a wound unless you REALLY know what you are doing. I was working with many docs in New Orleans and only one person closed a wound with sutures in the field (he was a radiologist who was later told by several others it was not a good idea).

In the field, cleaning the wound and stopping blood loss are the primary goals. Preventing infection, by keeping the wound clean, is the main goal until you get out. If you do not think you are going to get out in a timely manner, suturing a dirty or contaminated wound (that would be all of them outside of a planned surgery), can be a very foolish thing.

For those out there with no insurance, there are docs out there who will help you out if you find them.
Click to expand...

So he wasn't so hot on the field trauma work...but did the radiologist take your avatar pic?

So does "no closures in the field" include butterfly tape etc? I am not inclined to turn tactical tailor on myself but I'd be interested to know your thoughts on putting a few strips on to hold deep cuts halfway closed.

Or is it really just better to stop the bleeding, put some non-adherent pads over top, tape the pads down and let the secondary intention solve your problems over a couple of weeks?

I never really did any first aid training, so I generally just run on instinct and a few simple rules:

clean the holes
stop the leaks
rice the sprains
don't mess with the spine

If all else fails, I start pounding on the person't chest and yell, "don't die on me, god damn it! You never gave up on anything in your entire life! Now fight!" This has worked on every main character I have tried it on, but sometimes you need to give up and start crying, and then usually the person will cough out a half a mouthful of water, and start breathing again on their own.
 
Hog Feet,
+1 on the request for more of your advice! Based on what you're saying I guess superglue is off the table? I figured that flushing the area with some sort of antiseptic would be enough but I guess not.

Alex p. Schorsc said:
One of the best ways to fix up cuts in the South American jungle is to use the large leaf cutting ants. The big soldier ants have huge pincers. You close the wound, grab an ant and apply its pincer to both sides of the wound. He bites down closing the wound and then you cut his head off. The row of ant heads clamping the wound down look like so many stitches. An added convenience is the fact that the ants' mouths exude formic acid which is a great antiseptic.
Click to expand...

I've heard about this before. We need pictures!
 
Okay, so what about staples? Cabela's has a first aid stapler. Would you use it?
 
I met a guy once who got his arm ripped open in the mountains on a camping trip, since he'd hiked in for miles he was in a bind. His uncle stitched his arm up with a fishing hook and fishing string. (ouch)
 
protourist said:
Okay, so what about staples? Cabela's has a first aid stapler. Would you use it?
Click to expand...

I can't speak for the smart guy, but one thing I can tell you: after they got tired of running screws into my bones, the surgeons closed me up with staples.

I am personally concluding that this means staples equals stitches.

I am not a doctor, nor am I trained in first aid at all. So take this with a grain car of salt:

I am trying to picture a situation in which you'd really benefit from getting sewn (or stapled) up in the bush. I am thinking major bleeding? But stapling yourself together won't stop the bleeding, will it? If there is a lot of blood there must be blood vessel damage, which doesn't need staples, it needs pressure I think.

In fact getting your wounds closed back up really only seems to do two things:

1. keep the dirt out

2. limit scarring

So keeping the dirt out is really only important in preventing infection...but if closing a wound makes infection more likely then I would avoid it. And scarring makes you look cool and possibly like a pirate, so that's okay too.

I am not medically trained, so there could be a bunch of reasons to bust out the Arrow T-50 and start chunking away. But I suspect this is not the case.
 
the only major wound I suffered was when hiking once with a group of friends on a very miserable trip; just about everyone of us (there were 5 of us) got hurt somehow.
1. bee sting
2. tripped and fell into a thorn patch
3. sprained his ankle pretty bad
4. Me carrying my full frame pack on my back and my friend's (the one that sprained his ankle) on my front slipped and ripped my elbow open on a rock, and damn did it bleed. I went through all of the bandages in 3 first aid kits and sufficiently soaked a bandanna. So my solution was to heat up the blade on my Vic Tinker as hot as I could and cauterized the wound. It didn't feel to good but it worked.
 
:eek:Whoa,seems I opened a can of worms on this subject.BTW,my thumb's doing fine.I'm very meticulous about keeping my wounds clean.When I was a teenager I ignored a small cut & it got seriously infected,almost lost my right index finger & eventually landed me in the hospital for a week,due to the infection spreading & causing me to get a high fever.Ever since then I'll regularly check,clean & change dressing on even the smallest wound.
I wasn't really gonna stitch myself up.Was I thinking about it?Yes.My original post was done in haste(as most of mine are:o).I was really just looking for suggestions/experiences you guys might have had in that situation,except being far away from any help(not in the kitchen,as was my case).
Well once again you guys more than came thru on that:thumbup:

Thanks for all the tips guys.Especially from the doctor!I'm impressed:)
I guess knifenuts come from all walks of life:D
 
Last edited:
Cool man, glad everything worked out!

Funny, in today's world we don't often think of getting an infection on a minor cut, but no doubt in the past people died from that sort of thing on a regular basis...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top