How to manage a patient with Knife Cut

Rigomo Team

Sun, 05 Oct 2025

Accidental knife cuts referred to as lacerations are seldom life-threatening. If someone sustains such injuries then the goals are to:

·         Minimize infection

·         Promote healing

·         Decrease the necessity for surgical intervention

The first factor you ought to do with any laceration is calm the victim and, once attainable, elevate the affected part of the body higher than the level of the victim’s heart. Wear first-aid gloves and protect your eyes.

The next step is to stop the blood. This can be best accomplished by applying direct and constant pressure to the wound by employing a wadded sterile compress, cloth, or direct hand-to-wound contact (that’s why you “gloved up”) if needed.

Hold pressure for a full ten to fifteen minutes. If you still see the blood oozing out, then the clock resets and you got yourself another ten to fifteen minutes. Then consider a pressure bandage, compression bandage or alternative additional extreme measures.

With the blood stopped, take a look and in-depth inspect the injury. Check the pulses around the wound; they must be sturdy and regular. The tissue surrounding the wound ought to be warm and pink with no loss of sensation, and all the motor activities need to be intact. In general, any variations from these needs to be taken seriously, and call for immediate medical attention.

Now, you've got to scrub/irrigate the wound to forestall infection. The simplest irrigants are traditional saline and sterile water.

Avoid the use of iodine (Betadine), lotion, and oxide, which may cause additional tissue harm.

The irrigation stream needs to have enough force behind it to dislodge any foreign material while not injuring the tissue beneath and you've got to use caution to not push harmful material deeper into the wound. The goal isn't to soak the wound but to scrub it. Use a minimum of one liter of irrigation fluid to scrub every wound.

When irrigation is done, bandage a laceration with non-adherent dressings made of materials such as Telfa, Xeroform, Adaptic, and Aquaphor. You can apply an antiseptic ointment like an antibiotic to the surface of the wound before seeking proper medical care

Be sure to stay up-to-date on your tetanus shots and seek skilled medical attention as early as possible!