Minor Cuts, Lacerations and Wounds

The medical professionals at Wellington Physicians Urgent Care can help treat various types of minor cuts, lacerations and wounds. Visiting an urgent care center can also lower the risk of an infection.

What Is a Minor Wound?

Minor skin wounds often occur as the result of unanticipated trauma and may include lacerations, cuts, abrasions, blisters and puncture wounds. Going to an urgent care center for diagnosis and treatment can make sure that a minor cut, laceration or wound does not become infected and dangerous. We can treat your minor cut, small cuts and scrapes with urgent care for lacerations and urgent care for cuts.

Types of Lacerations and Wounds

• Lacerations are irregular shaped wounds often with ragged skin edges. There is often deeper skin damage and bruising. Deep lacerations should be treated as an emergency and you should go to the emergency room.
• A cut usually has clean edges as a result of the cause of injury e.g. a sharp knife. If deep, a skin cut can bleed profusely and nerve and muscle damage can occur. Sometimes cuts require stitches to stop the bleeding and lead to wounds care. Like deep lacerations, deep cuts should be treated as an emergency.
• Abrasions or grazes are more superficial wounds in which the top layer of the skin is removed from the skin sliding across a rough surface. These injuries often contain dirt and gravel and need to be cleaned to properly heal.
• Blisters are the result of friction between the top two layers of the skin.
• A puncture wound is a wound made by a pointed object such as a nail or knife. A puncture wound doesn’t usually cause excessive bleeding. Often the wound seems to close almost instantly. But this doesn’t mean treatment isn’t necessary. A puncture wound, such as from stepping on a nail can be dangerous because of the risk of infection.

Treating Minor Cuts

According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, to treat a minor cut, dermatologists recommend the following steps:

Washing hands with soap and running water. This can be highly effective in preventing an infection

Applying petroleum jelly. This helps keep the wound moist, which can lead to faster healing. Make sure to apply the petroleum jelly continuously until the cut heals.

Covering the cut with sterile bandage. This will help protect the cut and prevent it from reopening. To help prevent infection, change the bandage daily and cover the cut until it heals.

Consider taking over-the-counter medicine. Acetaminophen can help relieve painful cuts.

Preventing Infection

After any injury, it is important to watch for signs of infection. A cut treated at home may seem like a good idea, but an open wound, dirt or debris or even not cleaning the wound properly can lead to an infection.

Infection is one of the biggest risks to consider for minor traumatic wounds. These wound types are considered “dirty wounds” since they often contain bacteria and debris from the cause of the injury.

Application of a wound dressing should be preceded by cleaning the injury using hydrogen peroxide, a visual check for the presence of foreign material and removal of any foreign material. If you have not received a tetanus shot within five years, call your doctor. A primary care physician may recommend a booster within 48 hours of injury.

Contact Us Today

Wellington Physicians Urgent Care, located in Wellington, Florida, is open seven days a week with convenient daytime and evening hours for patients needing urgent care treatment. Wellington Physicians Urgent Care’s team of medical professionals are here to help with your cut and help prevent infection.

Walk-in or make a reservation online.  →