Dermatreat

Overview To Wounds

A wound can be defined as occurring when the integrity of any tissue is compromised and may be caused by, for example, an accident (scrapes, cuts, lacerations, punctures, contusions, burns, scalds etc), a surgical procedure or some other outside physical force which affects body tissue deeply or superficially.

Scrapes occur when skin is rubbed away by friction contact with another rough surface such as scraped knees if falling on the pavement, or burnt hands if a rope is passed too quickly through the hands.

Cuts arrive in many ways and forms from simple paper cuts to more serious finger cuts when preparing food with sharp knives, from minor shaving nicks to surgical operations.

Lacerations are tears which separate the skin and leave ragged edges and are the result of great force being exerted against the body such as perhaps would be the case in an automobile of motorcycle accident or in an industrial accident where a limb is wrenched violently by a machine.

Punctures are usually deep narrow wounds which occur when sharp objects such as knives, nails, broken glass, and metal rods break the skin surface and enter the body.

Contusions, which are more normally referred to as bruises, are the result of a physical trauma which causes injury to the internal structure of the body, but does not break the skin. Receiving a blow to the body from an object such as ball travelling at high speed or accidentally hitting your leg against a piece of furniture will typically produce the blue/yellow symptoms of a bruise.

Burns and Scalds will be reviewed in the Burns section of this site.