Minor lacerations are some of the most common complaints in hospital emergency departments. It’s just a matter of time before you or someone you know, will accidentally cut themselves and begin to bleed. It’s important to know what to do, and know if they really need to call 911 or not. Most lacerations need early initial intervention in the field, before you get to the doctor. Read on for some tips on creating field dressings, and stopping bleeding.

No matter how the laceration happens, the first order of business is to control bleeding. Don’t worry too much about minor bleeding because it can actually help cleanse the wound by pushing out foreign bodies such as dirt and bacteria. Besides, it means they have a good blood supply to the area. If the bleeding is pulsatile or streaming, in other words spurting out of the wound, then the wound is deep and quick control of the loss of blood is much more important.

Try to get out the sand, twigs, pebbles and debris if you can, then apply direct pressure. Do this with a pressure dressing as shown. This technique works on small cuts as well as large lacerations. You can even do this with some strips of clean cloth, (not a tourniquet!) Pressure alone will always work to stop bleeding. Wounds on the scalp or anywhere, can be treated in the same way.

Be sure to not remove the initial dressing to see if the bleeding has stopped. This is because, the bloods platelets are like little corks that form a small clot to stop bleeding. The platelets have to have a backstop so they can clump together and form the clot. Otherwise they’ll simply fall out of the wound and spill onto the ground. If and when the dressing gets soaked with blood, simply place some more dressing on top of the original one to assist in soaking up the blood. If bleeding is not controlled after 15 minutes, start heading to the ER.

When bleeding has stopped, you can look at the wound and decide whether you need to go to the ER. Stitches, if you need it, have to be done within 6-8 hours. How can you tell whether it needs stitches? In short, if the wound wants to stay open, or pop open with simple movement, it needs stitches!