Lacerations are cuts that break the skin and tear your body’s soft tissue. Sometimes called deep cuts or gashes, lacerations are caused by blunt trauma from a sharp object. Like all injuries, the severity of your laceration could fall anywhere on a wide range.
Let the experts at Local MD take a look at your injury, determine the severity of your laceration, and treat it appropriately. Schedule an appointment, or walk in to any of our locations to be treated by our team!
What Is A Laceration?
Lacerations are wounds produced by the tearing of soft body tissue. They tend to be caused by blunt trauma, generally from a sharp object, like broken glass. Lacerations can be described as deep cuts or gashes in your skin.
There can be some confusion between lacerations and puncture wounds. Puncture wounds tend to be caused by a sharp object — like a knife or nail — entering and leaving the skin in a clean motion. Lacerations, on the other hand, can be deeper tears with the risk for infection from the object that caused the initial injury.
Repairing a Laceration
When you come to Local MD for laceration treatment, our highly skilled team of medical providers will examine the cut and determine the best way to repair it. Depending on the cause and severity, treatment could include stitches, staples or a tetanus shot. Should your laceration require another type of treatment, the Local MD team will refer you to a nearby hospital.
Information to have ready when you come in for laceration treatment:
How the injury occurred
When the laceration occurred
Whether it was caused by an animal or not
Any symptoms you’re experiencing as a result (weakness, numbness, etc.)
As always, your medical history
Is It Infected?
Common signs of laceration infections:
Pain around the area of the laceration
Laceration oozes pus
Fever and chills
Inflammation around injury or stitches
Abrasion vs. Laceration
Unlike a laceration which could be a very deep cut, abrasions are usually minor. An abrasion is a scrape, or other superficial damage, to the skin’s surface. Abrasions typically occur when the epidermis — the skin’s outermost layer — comes in contact with a rough surface, think scraped knee.
Abrasions rough, reddish skin with minimal bleeding. Minor as they are, they can be very painful. An abrasion may be considered severe if large enough, or if things like dirt and gravel embed in the wound. As with most mild injuries, an abrasion will typically heal itself within a few days.