“Wound infection?”
I got a cut on the palm of my hand more often a wound it was about an inch in diameter and kind of deep didn’t require stitches or anything. I don’t know if it’s infected or not and would like to find out how I know if it’s definitely infected and what I should do?
Male | 19 years old
Complaint duration: 2 days
Medications: None
Conditions: None
4 Answers
DermapathologistDermapathologist
It’s infected. Call your primary care doctor to get an antibiotic prescribed. In the meantime, get some neosporin and use 3 times a day and clean with soap and water three times a day. Keep it covered with a bandaid to keep it from running against other objects.
If infected, the wound would swell, get red around it, and be extremely tender to pressure. The photo isn’t great, but your hand does not look infected from what I can see.
The area of the wound looks somewhat red, which could indicate a possible infection. I don’t see any red streaks going up to the wrist, which could further indicate an infection. Do you have fevers or pain? Ideally, the wound should be cleaned and a culture obtained to rule out a wound infection. The wound would also benefit from debridement to remove dead tissue and stimulate the growth of new tissue.
The wound on the photo doesn’t seem infected, at least visually. Things to look for are redness, drainage, pain out of proportion, and/or swelling.
