The secret of a small hand trauma can also lead to a major disaster

  Mr. Wang recently celebrated his birthday at home and wished to drink some beer, and when he opened the bottle too hard, the tin bottle cap cut the skin of his finger about 1 cm long. He thought it was a small problem, applied some red salve, and then wrapped a circle of tape, and helped to scrub after dinner. When he went to sleep at night, he felt pain in the injured finger and found that the index finger wound was red and swollen. The next day, the pain increased, but because of busy work, Mr. Wang did not go to the hospital.  On the third day, because of the pain of the wound, he finally went to the hospital, the doctor opened the tape, found that the wound has yellow liquid discharge, given a daily change of medicine and antibiotics oral treatment, but the swelling and pain did not subside significantly. On the seventh day after the injury, the skin of the swollen end finger turned purple, and an X-ray probe revealed bone destruction of the end finger bone and the formation of bad bone, which was actively treated but had to be amputated two weeks after the injury due to skin necrosis of the end finger and impaired blood circulation at the end of the finger.  The hand has the most and most frequent contact with the outside world and is exposed to various potential hazards for a long time, thus making it more vulnerable to injury. The traumatized tissue can be skin, nerves, blood vessels, or tendons, bones, etc., but usually it is a compound injury of multiple tissues. Because they are so common, hand trauma is easily overlooked, causing delays in treatment. Experts warn that a very small skin cut, if not treated properly, can develop into a major scourge and leave a lifelong disability.  After the occurrence of trauma, the correct way to stop bleeding and prevent infection are two key: 1, stop bleeding: general small wounds can be stopped by compression, as long as the use of cotton balls or gauze (clean handkerchiefs or toilet paper can also be) pressure on the wound for a few minutes. For more bleeding finger trauma, you should use your hand to compress the injured finger root to stop bleeding, or you can use a rubber strip to tie the finger root, and go to the hospital as soon as possible.  Remember: keep track of the time you tie the finger root, and relax it once an hour. Tying it too tightly for a long time can cause ischemia or even necrosis of the finger. In hand surgery, there are few cases of local tissue ischemic necrosis or even finger amputation due to too tight and too long tourniquet.  2, prevent wound infection: a very critical step in preventing infection is to clean the wound. Experts say that under the condition of controlling active bleeding, the wound should be flushed with distilled water or mineral water to flush out the contaminants in the wound, which can also reduce the contaminating microorganisms. Tap water can also be used to rinse the wound if there are no conditions to minimize the number of traumatic bacteria.  Wound dehiscence and exposure of subcutaneous tissues can easily lead to microbial contamination and multiplication, eventually leading to wound infection and septicemia. Therefore, wound closure is also the most important measure to prevent infection, the earlier the wound is closed, the less chance of infection. If the wound is large or has a foreign body lodged in it, it should be treated in a hospital, and the doctor will decide whether to inject TAT (tetanus antitoxin serum) according to the patient’s specific situation.  It should be reminded that after hand trauma, the skin healing cycle is similar for everyone, and can heal in about a week. However, if the wound is infected, people with a low immune system may not heal for a long time or even develop ulcers. If the wound is still red, swollen, stinging and other symptoms for more than 7 days and does not improve, we should consider whether the wound has been infected by pathogenic bacteria, should go to a regular hospital as soon as possible to seek medical attention.