On the heels of our series regarding blade damage, I thought it appropriate to look at stitches. If your character has been injured by a blade, there may indeed be a suture in their future. How do you know? Well according to the Cleveland Clinic, your character needs stitches if their wound is:
* Deep enough to expose the dermis or yellow subcutaneous fatty tissue
* Gaping open so that you can’t easily press the edges of the wound together with gentle pressure
* Located over a joint (There may be damaged nerves, tendons or ligaments.)
* The result of a bite
* The result of a foreign object impaling the area
* Contaminated or resulting from a rusty object
* Bleeding profusely or the bleeding does not slow with pressure
* On a cosmetically significant area
* On or near the genitalia (Did that even need to be said???)
Until your character can get to a hospital, basic first aid should be applied.
* Place a clean cloth or piece of gauze over the cut.
* Apply pressure directly to the area.
* If the cloth becomes soaked with blood, put more on top of it. Don’t lift the bloodied cloth to apply more. Keep it in place and maintain pressure for a full five minutes.
* If the cut is on the arm or leg, bleeding may be slowed by lifting the limb above the heart.
And now, how to suture… This video is great because not only does it offer links to several types of sutures, but you can clearly see the underlying tissue. That’s a great story detail. Also, you can see that the needle doesn’t just slip into the skin. The skin shown is thin and seems like that of an older person. Still, the needle doesn’t just glide through.
