What would do - dh injured himself

[ForFuckSakeWhatNow]

So dh fell over and ‘skimmed his knee’ - his description.
I can see a bit of skin hanging through a hole of his trousers so I’m going to say it needs looking at.

There is no minor injury clinic where I live. I’ve just checked.

What would do? Dh will not go to A&E. won’t be able to see a doctor or nurse for a few days either.

Im at loss at what to advise him - esp as he is extremely reluctant ‘to make a fuss’
He is currently in the shower and told me he will just ‘cut the hanging skin off’

Somehow steroid tips is better!

has the bleeding stopped? Can you see bone? If the bleeding has stopped and you can’t see bone just clean the wound and add some sterile dressing.

you should take a first aid course to stop you from unnecessarily clogging up A and E in the future with minor injuries

This is the situation where I live, and therefore the A&E department have a minor injuries unit (and out-of-hours GP too). You turn up and they triage you to the right section. If you have any local Facebook groups perhaps they could confirm for you?

is his tetanus up to date?

Show a pharmacist ask them

This ⬆️.

Had injuries with kids in the past. Important thing is to keep it clean and dressed. It’ll heal. If it gets a bit pussy in a few days he might need to speak to GP (a photo sent via an online consult will do).

Treat it myself 🤔

You could go to a pharmacy/ chemist and show them to get a quick opinion .

This.

Depends on where you´re at but your local pharamacy will (probably) provide basic wound care.
And they´d be able to assess whether he needs A&E.

My son cut his finger at Christmas time and it sounds similar, some skin 'hanging off' but not too bad overall and we stopped the bleeding with gauze.

The next morning something just wasn't looking right to me and we went to the local clinic - the nurse said there's only 24 hours with this type of thing to follow the right procedure, whether that be a stitch or two, or some glue in my son's case. Nevertheless, it got infected despite seeking help and he's ended up on antibiotics anyway - we shouldn't have even left it overnight in hindsight. Plus it actually didn't look that bad!

So given your description in this case, I do think it sounds like he needs to see someone.

Local chemist is a good call if you're struggling as at least it is a starting point and they can advise what next for your area.

Use 111 online? They will direct you the best resource.
Failing that, call your GP and get an appointment with the nurse?

You could also ring 111 for advice. If they say it needs A&E to look at it they will give you a referral code to hand in when you arrive. It needs to be cleaned though. The best thing would be to flush the wound with warm water to get out any obvious dirt or grit then something like an antiseptic spray from the chemist along with a dressing to keep it clean.

Visit the local pharmacy.

I rang 111 when I got bitten by a rat and got sent to a nurse practitioner's clinic at a local hospital. They gave me a booster shot for something and some antibiotics.

I was trying to help that rat.

It sounds like he ideally needs stitches. So that needs medical intervention and I don't think a GP could do it. If someone leaves it too long they won't stitch it up due to risk of infection. Then he'd be left with more of a scar.

@ForFuckSakeWhatNow He needs to go to A&E or somewhere else that could see if he's benefit from stitches. (ask 111 where to go maybe- they would say he should go somewhere.) Of course he shouldn't cut the skin that would cover the wound off! But you can only try and reason with him, you can't 'make' him. Calling 111 and telling him what they say, might help persuade him.

Love the name… but I’m guessing you don’t love every kind of rat? 🐀

@TheseLegsDefinitelyUsedToBeLonger Not anymore that's for sure!

I'll tell you what though....they're smart as hell.

I’ve lived where there’s no doctor or hospital and had to treat kids injuries.
Needs irrigating to wash out any grit, dirt. Best and easiest is to play the shower gently over it. Dry around it carefully.
Lay a dry bandage over it laying down the skin flap, just to absorb any water.
Remove this, and when as dry as possible put on another flat dressing that hopefully won’t stick and bandage.
Check for any weeping, tracking along veins ( rare), heat. Any of those needs antibiotics. If no other symptoms just keep checking it’s clean and dry and redress.
You can always get a pharmacist to take a look.

I know! So strange.

What would I do? I would tell my DH that it looked nasty or whatever and say - if it was me I'd get that looked at.

Then I would leave it to him.

He's a grown adult not a 5 year old.
He can make his own decisions and deal with any fallout if he decides to do nothing. My DH is just as capable and has the same google search available as I do so he can look these things up too.

He might need a tetanus booster so I'd probably book an appointment with a practice nurse
Ideally the hanging skin should be left on
Sluice wound with saline( 1tsp salt to a pint of cooled boiled water) then replace hanging skin and cover with a dry dressing for now
You can buy steristrips at a pharmacy if you need to wait for nurse appointment

The most important question...do you have a life insurance policy for him?

Jesus, wash out the wound, steri strip any cuts, gauze and bandage. Change daily. Unless you can see bone, just patch it up, but it has to be clean.

What you do....is use some common sense and deal with it yourself.
I find it weird this increasing inability to take self responsibility for anything.
It's a grazed knee..wash it, dry it, stick a dressing on it ..

Doesn't sound as if you've had a proper look - just viewed the wound through a hole in his jeans.

Don't let him cut the hanging skin off! Proper look and clean is first step, then see if you can patch up with steristrips or similar.