Overview
This simply refers to an ordinary kind of injury that does not endanger one’s health. This condition is minor and treatable at home.
Dressing and cleaning them efficiently is all that is required.
Quick Tip
The material posted on this page on first aid for external injuries, including cuts and grazes, is for learning purposes only. To learn to prevent, recognize and manage these injuries, including recognition of infections, take a standard, childcare or emergency first aid course with one of our Canadian first aid training providers.
Stopping the Bleeding
Dressing and cleaning them efficiently is all that is required.
When you sustain a cut or graze in any section of your body and it is heavily bleeding, you should try and stop it before dressing or covering it.
You will do this by exerting pressure to the area by use of a towel or a bandage. In case the injury is to your lower limb, try and elevate the area steady to your heart so that the bleeding may reduce and eventually stop, also, if the injury is to your arm or hand, elevate it on your head.
Dressing
Dressing a cut or graze at home should be done in the following manner:
- Start by washing and drying your hands thoroughly
- Clean under tap water the wound but don’t try and use any antiseptic since it may destroy tissues which will slow down healing
- Dry the area clean by use of a clean towel
- By use of a plaster, dress the wound carefully(application of sterile adhesives)
Painkillers
Healing of the wound by itself should take long but in case it doesn’t, take Paracetamol and ibuprofen painkillers.
When to Find Medical Advice
When you suspect the cut or graze is worsening and becoming infected, seek medical information.
More risk of the wound becoming infected may occur if:
- The wound has a rough edge
- It has been contaminated with soil, body fluids or pus and stool
- The wound is longer than 5cm
- There was a foreign thing in the wound before cleaning it, for example, a piece of glass
Make a call to your GP if your skin was bitten by a person or an animal since bites are highly affected by infections.
If a wound has become infected, it will portray the following signs:
- Swollen glands
- Feeling generally unwell
- Swelling of the cut or bruised area
- Pus formation in the affected area
- Increasing pain in the wound
- High temperatures or fever of about 38°C (100.4°F) and above
- Redness spreading from the cut and graze
Cuts and Grazes in Children
Children especially the younger ones are highly susceptible to this condition since they normally fall over and even trip up over things when they are learning to walk.
In case your child is bleeding nonstop or is gaping open, you will have to rush him or her to the A&E.
Related Video On Cuts And Grazes