Punctured Wounds
Categories:
Accidents, Emergencies and Poisons
From a sharp pointed instrument, nail, etc. The first
thing to do is to cleanse the wound thoroughly with hot water and about
one-half ounce of salt to a pint of water. Keep this up constantly for
one-half hour. Then if it is from a nail, put on a bread and milk poultice
hot, and keep changing it every ten minutes to keep it good and hot. Keep
this going for at least an hour. Salt pork can then be put on and kept on;
or a cloth dipped in hot salt water can be applied, and kept on for a few
hours when it can be dressed as other wounds are. There should be no
throbbing pain the next day. A wound of this kind should be dressed every
day, with great care in the matter of cleanliness. It is lack of
cleanliness that usually causes trouble, either the poison that gets into
the wound at the time of injury or that is allowed to get in and infect
the wound afterwards. Clean hands, tools, basins, dressings and boiled
water are essential to a quick healing.