Facts About Wounds

A wound is an injury that is caused when a knife, bullet, etc., cuts or breaks the surface of your skin. It also involves the laceration or breaking of one of your skin membrane. Usually damaging the underlying tissues in your skin. Wound affects the skin. It is either cutting or breaking your skin.

It is a sharp injury that causes damage to the epidermis of your skin. There are different ways by which your skins can be broken or injured. These diverse ways lead us to the type of wounds we have.

These types of wound include:

• Open wound
• Closed wound

Open Wound

This type of wound is cuts or injuries that expose the body tissue to the outside. Open wounds are classified as;

Puncture wounds: this is caused by forceful penetration of any objects, e.g., needle, nail, etc. through your skin. This injury does not leave your skin with a large opening, but they are deep and dangerous. It doesn’t cause much bleeding.

Surgical wounds and incisions: any cuts you have on your skin from a clean, sharp object are known as surgical wounds and incisions. It is usually made by a scalpel during surgery—the cuts lefts on your skin after the operation when stitching the operated area.

Abrasion: This is a type of injury caused by something that rubs, scrapes, or grind your skin, i.e., rubbing your skin against a rough surface. This injury leaves your skin layer broken.

Skin tears: this happens when your skin’s layer separates or peels off. It usually happens to your arm or leg. It is mostly caused by mechanical forces.

Thermal, chemical, or electrical burns: some chemicals are corrosive to your skin. They burn your skin if they come in contact with your skin. Heat can cause a burn, which damages your skin’s tissue. Likewise, the electrical shock caused by high voltage can also damage your skin.

Lacerations: this type of wound is a deep cut or tear of the flesh. It always results in a torn and ragged wound.

Bites or stings: bites and stings (e.g., snake’s bite, scorpion’s sting, etc.) pierce your skin, thereby leaving a cut on your skin.

Closed Wounds

As the name implies, the wound, in this case, is not exposed to the outside. Your underlying tissues are damaged, and bleeding occurs underneath the skin’s surface. Closed injuries are always caused by a violent force hitting your skin. The dermis is the inner layer of the skin, consisting of the connective tissues such as the blood vessels and layers of muscle. A violent force can damage the blood vessels and the muscle’s layer.

Types of Closed Wounds Include:

Hematoma affects your blood vessels; it is a substantial swelling of clotted blood outside the blood vessels. It occurs when blood leaks from your large blood vessel due to a cut or injury. A damaged blood vessel results in a hematoma.

Crush injuries: this injury is direct; it causes damage to your muscle cells. It occurs when force is put on any part of your body. It is a result of crushing your muscle by a heavy object. That is compression of your legs or arms.

Seroma: this is a buildup or collection of fluid that is formed under your skin after a surgical procedure. The fluids leaked out from a damaged or ruptured blood vessel from surgery where tissues are removed. The fluids are composed of blood plasma or serum. It often develops at the breast, neck, and abnormal surgery.

Blisters: this type of injury is caused by forceful rubbing, burning, infection, freezing, or exposures from chemicals; It results in a pocket of fluid within the epidermis of your skin. They are sometimes symptoms of some diseases. The liquids are either serum or plasma. They look like bubbles on your skin.

Contusion: this type of wound is also a direct one. It’s as a result of damaged blood vessels. The damaged blood vessels leak blood under the skin to the surrounding areas. It also a type of hematoma. It is a medical name for a bruise. It is one of the most common kinds of sport-related injuries. It will leave your skin with a blue, dark color, pain, and swelling.

Types of infections that affect open wounds include:

Tetanus: this infection is caused by a bacteria called tetani C. it is also referred to as lockjaw. It goes into your body through an open wound. The bacteria called tetani C affects your muscle, causing you a painful muscle spasm, especially at your jaw and neck. Tetanus lives inside the soil, dust, animal feces, and surface of metal objects.

Symptoms of Tetanus

Fever, sweat, high blood pressure, difficulty when swallowing, stiffness, and spasm in the muscles of your jaw, stiffness in your abdominal muscles, sweating, and elevated heart resting rate.

Treatment of Tetanus

• Tetanus can be treated with the use of medications like antitoxins, vaccines, antibiotics, and sedatives.
• Therapies: changing your lifestyle can help you treat tetanus, like covering the wound, change the wound’s coverings routinely, adding pressure to the wound to control bleeding.

Staph Infections

This infection is caused by the bacteria called staphylococcus living inside your nose and on your skin. These bacteria remain on your skin and affect your sweat glands. They take the chance to affect any cut or wound they come in contact with on the surface of your skin. They enter through the open wounds causing a staph infection.

Symptoms of Staph Infection

Skin rashes, oozing blister, vomiting, nausea, dehydration, high fever, boils, swelling skin, cough, tiredness, difficulty breathing, muscle aches, and chest pain.

Treatment of Staph Infections

• The use of antibiotics: these bacteria show a tremendous resistance to some of the antibiotics used, so doctors and other health practitioners used the second form of treatment.
• Surgery: This method is used if the infections have affected you so profoundly. It involves getting rid of the infection by cleaning it from the muscle’s fiber by surgery.

Necrotizing Fasciitis

These bacteria kill your soft tissue; it is a rare bacterial infection. It spreads easily, and it requires excellent medical treatment. It is also called a flesh-eating disease.

Symptoms of Necrotizing Fasciitis

Its symptoms are compared to that of flu, including fever, diarrhea, pains near the wound, muscle aches, sore throats, nausea, and stomach aches.

Treatment of Necrotizing Fasciitis

Surgery, amputation, transfusion of blood, intravenous antibiotics therapies, and medication to raise blood pressure.

In addition, the chronic wound is another form of wound that takes a very long time to heal up. This type of wound is always infected by several bacterial infections and health conditions. Diabetes and cancer can increase the possibility of developing chronic wounds.