by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Everyone wants to get that cut closed ASAP. But hey, hold on there just a minute, Bub. First, you’ve got to stop the bleeding.

Next you’re going to need to clean, clean, clean. After the wound is closed, leftover bacteria are going to just love that warm, moist enclosed space. They can hide and multiply like crazy. And foreign bodies like visual dirt and debris? Don’t get me started. Next thing you know you’ve got a nasty wound infection with pus and redness and fever and worse. Dare I say abscess?

Sure, our immune system is great. It fights off those bacteria like crazy. But give it a fighting chance. Clean that wound. Then the our antibodies and white blood cells can mop up what’s left. (And there are almost always a few bacteria left).

In this second video of my three-part series on how to threat a cut, my daughter/assistant and I brave the wild (kidding) to demonstrate tips on how to tell if you’ve cut a tendon, severed an artery, or damaged a nerve.

I place emphasis on the importance of getting medical help as soon as possible if you think the bone is involved (an open fracture). And I demonstrate how to clean a cut with irrigation, including a makeshift way to make a pressure stream of water if the tap is not available.

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