stitching up a wound..... what would one need to know?

This is why my kit is packed with suture kits, iodine swabs and dropper bottle, Technicare surgical prep soap, Alcohol swabs and dropper bottle, superglue, latex gloves, and other supplies required for emergency surgery. I also took the time to learn how to use it all.
 
RescueRiley said:
just read this one....AAHHHHHH!!!! apply direct pressure and elevate if nec. get to a doctor asap and get a tetanus shot.
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For this type of wound to an area I do not want to lose any of it's functions, I would stop/slow the bleeding, protect the wound, seek a professional. Nothing else would matter.

Glad to hear it is healing, but please go see a professional today. You don't have to take their advice, but you ought to at least hear what a real doctor thinks about the future use of your hand for the rest of your life.
 
tknife said:
I have some sterile sutures in my kit, don't remember where I got them.
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I'm also interested in a good source for these. I've used up the ones I had from my army days (everyone in my squad had extra trauma education:D)
 
You've got to learn to tune your wife out.
 
Whoa I'm late to this. I had an old folding saw spring out of a tree I was cutting and it cut my left index finger> My friend stitched it back up, and pretty much everything that the first post listed was put on my finger. Alot had been said about going to a doctor, but in out case, we were 5 days paddle, plus another 8 hours drive to the nearest hospital, so its not always an option.
 
I very interesting thread, thanks all for sharing. It makes me think of the threads about sword throwing and chopper smashing and how so many seem to think blades are toys or things to use other then their intended use. Like Jack we all have had accidents and I'm glad he asked the questions he did, seeing how many are gonna need it!
 
JackBauer24 said:
definetly on my list of things to get for my kit.

how about iodine? is that worth having? or should I have something better?
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I used to carry Iodine for minor cuts and grazes but I have read not to use it on deep wounds as it can damage the tissue !

I think in the case given I would put a rolled bandage against the wound and wrap the hand with another bandage or duct tape and get to the hospital ASAP !!!
 
I wouldn't screw around; go to the ER. Even in a survival situation, once you get out of it, go to the ER.
BTW, if your wound starts smelling like cheese, I heard that you're pretty much f**ked.
 
this might seem like a strange twist, but in case u don't have disinfectant with ye u can make use of certain herb species like this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago
Plantago spp. are often used as herbal remedies. The herb is astringent, anti-toxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, as well as demulcent, expectorant, styptic and diuretic. Externally, a poultice of the leaves is useful for insect bites, poison-ivy rashes, minor sores, and boils. In folklore it is even claimed to be able to cure snakebite. Internally, it is used for coughs and bronchitis, as a tea, tincture, or syrup. The broad-leaved varieties are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable for salads, green sauce, et cetera.
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I too carry suture kits, I get them from my vet, or online, but i use them for lots of things, like sewing up hockey gloves when the stitching between the fingers starts to go, or on the dog when he runs thru the barb wire full speed.

First course is always clean the wound. For a pack kit, sterile saline in the squirt bottles for contacts will clean out stuff as you can get some pressure behind it and sorta blow the gunk out. I have used steri strips, surgical staples, (fleet farm sells them in the animal medical aisle. ) Douse every thing with betadine after the rinse out, glue or sew up, or staple. BUT only do this if the cut looks like a clean cut in a piece of meat. any thing white, or gristle looking, you need a real surgeon. I have sewn up myself and lots of other guys who get nicked up playing hockey. We used to use unwaxed dental floss on real suture needles before suture packs became available. The needles and floss would be prethreaded and kept in a little jar of Phisohex. We got good enough that popping in a stitch or two to close cut would not even take you off a shift, you might miss a shift if it was more than 3/4 inch long. Usually the localized shock of the impact made novacaine unnecessary, but spray Cepacol would work to deaden stuff nearly instantly for the shallow stuff we were dealing with.

NOTE we were dealing with superficial facial wounds, I KNOW there are lots of nerves and tendons in faces and messing up can cause real problems, but we were just pinching skin and running the needle thru. little eyebrow cuts, ears that caught a stick or a puck, maybe a chin or a jawline, IF it was more than we felt comfy with, we would just take a tack stitch and then run them to the hospital.

two months ago the dog was chasing a rabbit on the farm and did not get over the bottom strand of barb wire, and split his chest skin open from his front legs to his back rib. We just washed it good, sprayed some betadine in and stapled the front 3/4 of the wound closed. We fed him doxycycline for a couple of days and he healed up fine.
 
Betadine ointment for perimeter cleaning, dermabond for prepping surrounding skin and steri strips-- all for wounds where it will be hours before medical attention can be reached or for wounds I judge to not need stitches(steri strips to partially close but I leave one end not tight).
Just what I do- NOT medical advice.
Bill
 
Normark said:
REI carrys wound closure kits..They are made by Doug Ritter I believe..
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No, DR had nothing to do with those. They are made by Adventure Medical, who worked with Doug on the AMK Pocket Survival Pack. Their medical items are developed by their medical staff; Doug likes suture kits in kits about as much as I do, read his write up on the topic.

The wound closure and IV kits are designed for extreme emergencies by people who know how (like a trained guide), or to be carried by people who don't know how but want to have clean and proper instruments in places where the professionals often don't (IE, the 3rd and 4th World). That is part of why AMK has them in thier "world traveler" series. And they have great big warnings in there.

If you really feel the need something like this in your kit, find a medical stapler- AMK has them in thier larger Sportsman kits IIRC and part of one of thier larger wound closure refill kits, and most farm stores probably have them. Easier to use one handed, harder to screw up, hurt less, scar less, and honestly not a whole lot bigger. And a whole lot easier if you need to work on a wounded dog! Even then I'd be uneasy watching someone try them after only reading the directions once or twice.

Remember, a staple or a suture is a self inflicted wound- no matter what the reason, they are cause for concern.
 
JackBauer24 said:
Well yeah, but this is the survival skills section, and I'm truely curious as to what would be the best in a bad situation.

I'm not worried about my hand. If something gets bad I'll go to the pirates I mean doctor.
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I have had stitches numerous times. It wouldn't occur to me NOT to go to a doctor, as Canada has free (actually paid through our taxes) service for that. There are mini clinics everywhere that you can go into, get it cleaned, stitched, show your health card, and walk out.
 
Lots of talk about sutures but on the palm they prefer staples, clips or glue so they dont damage anything else.

going right back to basics and assuming you're a hiker for example with just a basic FAK and survival kit along with your regular hiking stuff then you can salt pack a deep wound to kill infection or if a wound is allready infected then a sugar dressing works just as well as it dessicates the nasties - sugar dressings need changing and cleaning out every day though, but they do work.

allowing a good blood flow prior to dressing isn't bad either as it will hopefully self irrugate the wound before you begin direct pressure and elevation of the limb.

A curved needle is a must in any survival or sewing kit as in my opinion is dental floss being super strong and sterile. Once you get used to its rather unique properties regards stitching with it you find you switch to it for more and more stuff especially as it doesn't unravel everywhere.

for hand wounds then a condom makes a good sterile enclosure where you can 'soak' the wound overnight in a salt solution or keep it clean. also good for a tourniquet or pressure bandage. during ww2 they worked out that a moist salty wound heals better after they dragged guys out of the sea after a few days with nasty but healing wounds so as long as its stopped gushing then popping it in a rubber with a saline mixture and then a sock over the top to keep it warm and stop it popping. An iteresting aside to the moist and sterile principle as some surgeons will take a mangled hand and intert it into a hole made into the belly to allow the bodies own defense mechanisms to work on it as it doesn't destroy as much or leave as much scar tissue.

as long as you allow it time then the body is quite amazing at healing itself considering what we do to it on a daily basis - might I suggest you take to wearing kevlar lined gloves every time you play with sharps though. :)
 
I can see wanting to have sutures available in real SHTF situations. I would avoid using them unless you were REALLY up against a hard spot and as so many have said here, you need to do the homework to know how to use them properly. Once you seal up a wound, you have taken a big step in medical technique and risk. Prior to antibiotics and anethesia, the real killers were shock and infection, with gangrene being the really horrific one, IMHO. The American Civil War medical accounts are really good examples of the level of medicine available to us in survival situations. Not pretty reading.

If we really get into long term survival techniques, one peice of equipment we need to read the manual on is our bodies. There are two things you are going to save if you survive: your sanity and your body. Ain't one much good without th' other! Read up on snares and fire building too, but don't miss out on knowing as much as you can about how your body works and how to take care of it.
 
My wife and I are both doctors and we would not have done that in a survival situation or at home with alcohol and thread. You are very lucky so far!!

If the cut was deep it may have needed deep sutures (which should be absorbable and sterile). Cotton thread is a very bad choice of suture. You were at home and not in a survival situation. If the bleeding was under control you could have even gone in the morning to have it sutured.

Next time apply pressure and a clean bandage, go straight to the ER and promise never to do that again. Even in a SHTF scenario, closing a contaminated wound is a bad idea.

This weekend I am going camping with a few ER docs, nurses and Physician assistants. If any of us gets cut like that I can assure you we would not suture it in the field. Keep it clean and covered, pressure to stop the bleeding, and go directly to a hospital as soon as possible. Suturing a contaminated or dirty wound can be more dangerous than leaving it open, if it is not properly flushed out and closed in a sterile manner.

I am not advocating anyone do any of this stuff to themselves. Go to a doctor that does this kind of thing. Initially an ER doc and later a hand surgeon would be good.

I have seen doctors in SHTF situations who closed wounds they should not have. In New Orleans I saw many dirty wounds, well over a hundred. I had the supplies to suture most of them closed, but I only thought it was wise to close one of them with sutures while I was there. Sutures can trap bacteria and lead to a very big problem.

Don't play Rambo! In the real world even Rambo would have just tried to stop the bleeding and keep it bandaged until he could get to a medic.


If you are in a true SHTF scenario having the materials to fix things is not a bad idea, because you may run into someone who actually knows how to use them. The best things to have for the non-medical knife handlers would be something to clean the wound, such as sterile saline or water or possibly betadine solution if you are not allergic. Good sterile bandages and ACE bandages for compression would be essential. Antibiotic ointment is another thing to carry for small scrapes and cuts as well.

More than once I have had to do an amputation because someone tried to be Rambo and do bathroom surgery at home. Go to the propper doctor, PLEASE!
 
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