In the first moments after an injury, it can be hard to tell whether you should treat it at home or get professional medical care. Learning to assess the depth, length, location, and amount of bleeding from a wound can help you quickly gauge its severity.
Urgent care clinics offer same-day treatment without the long wait times you might find at your local ER. The healthcare professionals at urgent care clinics can clean, evaluate, and stitch cuts so you can start healing right away.
What to Do If You Have a Cut
If you have an injury that starts bleeding, immediately begin administering basic first aid to slow or stop the bleeding:
- Apply firm, direct pressure to the wound using a clean cloth.
- Continue to keep pressure on the wound until the bleeding slows.
- Elevate the injury above the heart if possible.
Controlling bleeding lets you see the wound so you can examine it and decide whether the cut needs stitches.
Do not try to clean deep wounds. If there are objects embedded in the wound, do not try to remove them, as this can worsen bleeding. It’s best to seek medical care for deep wounds or those involving foreign objects, such as dirt, gravel, or glass. A healthcare provider can safely clean the wound and administer stitches to close it.
How Stitches Help Wounds Heal
Stitches, or sutures, are a method of closing a wound using fine, medical-grade filament. Healthcare providers numb the area around the wound, then use a special needle to carefully stitch the edges of the cut together.
Treating serious cuts with stitches offers health benefits, including:
- Faster healing
- Reduced scarring
- Lower infection risk
- Protection while healing
Signs You Need Stitches
When you have the bleeding on a cut controlled, you can look for the key signs that you need stitches, such as:
- Depth: A cut needs stitches if it’s deep enough to see yellow fat, muscle, or bone.
- Size: If a wound is longer than 0.75 inches, it may require stitches
- Gaping: If the edges of the wound do not come together, or you can “look inside” the wound, you will need stitches to close it effectively.
- Bleeding: You should seek medical care if blood is spurting or won’t stop after 10-15 minutes of firm, direct pressure.
- Location: Stitches are often required to treat cuts on the face, eyelids, or lips. Stitches are also often necessary for wounds over joints (like knuckles), where movement can affect healing.
- Cause: Have any deep, jagged cuts from glass, metal, or a bite evaluated by a healthcare provider.
Cuts That Usually Don’t Need Stitches
The difference between cuts that need stitches vs. ones that don’t is usually size and location. If a cut is less than .75 inches and not on the face or over a joint, keep it clean and covered while it heals naturally.
Keep an eye out for signs of infection, such as:
- Increased redness
- Warmth
- Swelling
- Pus,
- Red streaks
Visit your doctor or an urgent care clinic if you suspect a cut is infected.
What Urgent Care Can Do For Cuts and Lacerations
An urgent care clinic can treat serious cuts that need stitches. Staff will clean and evaluate the injury before closing the wound with stitches.
They will give you complete instructions for caring for the wound at home, including when to seek follow-up care and when to have the stitches removed. They may also advise you to get a tetanus shot, if necessary.
Since stitches are most effective when placed within 6 hours of injury, getting same-day care is important. Next Level Urgent Care clinics are open 7 days per week and have shorter wait times and lower costs than the ER.
If a wound is severe, you may need to go to the ER instead of urgent care. If you have a life- or limb-threatening injury, you should go to a hospital emergency room or call 911. Seek Immediate Emergency Care when:
- Bleeding is severe or spurting
- You feel dizzy, faint, or experience shortness of breath
- A joint or limb cannot move or looks misshapen or severely deformed
Safe, Reliable Wound Treatment at Next Level Urgent Care
Wound care is one of the most common urgent care treatments. The healthcare professionals at Next Level Urgent Care can evaluate and clean wounds, and provide local anesthesia and suturing. They’ll send you home with complete aftercare instructions and call in any prescriptions you may need to the pharmacy of your choice.
With multiple locations in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, you can get to a nearby clinic for same-day treatment without an appointment. Our facilities are open from 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, so you can get the care you need as soon as you need it. We accept walk-in patients, or you can use our mobile app to check in before you arrive.
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