Ouch. Deep cut. Suggestions for further treatment?

I had a run-in with a very sharp pair of shears a couple of hours ago.
Sliced across the inside of my finger at a 'bend', quite deep, but not deep enough to damage ligaments or need stitches. Whew.
After initial bleeding, it stopped freakily fast.
Washed it out and put on a heavy-duty bandaid, but no other stuff except for taking arnica 'rescue remedy' internally a few times since.
I'm about to pull myself together, rinse it with teatree oil and put a comfrey and yarrow compress on.

Any other suggestions? I know the general advice is not to aply comfrey to deep wounds, but while this cut's pretty sore, I don't think it's a 'deep wound'

Seems to me, if the shears were relatively clean, and you washed the wound out well, why go to all that extra dither and opportunity to get germs into the wound. Wrap it up and wait 24 hours.....if it's getting red and swollen and painful by then it means infection is starting and then pull out the strong stuff...whether botanical or chemical....

I hear ya!
Just I use that finger/hand a lot and I'm trying to hurry healing as much as I can, as my work will probably keep opening the wound.
Actually, I'm surprised at how little it hurts today, as long as I don't knock it.
If I knock it, it feels very, very deep!

I'd use raw honey and then clean bandage. Honey is being used now in medical fields for persistent infectious wounds, as honey has antibiotic and antifungal properties and these take action immediately it is applied to the wound bed.

Raw honey is best and it would seem it would be a goopy, runny mess but it just impregnates the gauze and stays right at the source due to it's sticky nature. Really works to soothe the site, decrease inflammation and inhibit the growth of pathogens that might have been introduced into the wound via the shears. Change daily, washing with just simple warm and soapy water, reapply until wound shows good healing with wound edges well approximated, scabbed and redness/soreness decreased.

I am one of those really "stupid" people who avoid doctors and hospitals like the plague after a few bad run ins with the "health" system that has left me worse off than before. A couple of years ago I nearly sliced off three of my fingers, cutting through the tendons and leaving them numb and unable to flex as they once did. I still refused to go to the doctor, and I learnt a good practice (at least for me) during this time. I do not change the band-aids or dressing every day. If you do this, all you are doing is reopening the wound and exposing it to more infection. Do it only every second or even third day. When you do change your dressing, if you are able to, you should wind something tightly around the limb to stop blood flow. In this way it is less likely that the wound will begin bleeding again when you remove the dressings. And lastly, get a good, natural disinfectant like tea tree oil, mix it with water and dab it on the wound with a cotton bud. Do not use flowing water. Using this process I fully healed from my wounds and I have never had issues with inflammation or infection.

I believe that changing dressings daily and cleaning the deep wound is a way, in some situations, to keep it open on the surface so that puss can drain and does not build up inside due to the surface closing early and sealing the deeper damage.


Rufus

Jay Green wrote:I'd use raw honey and then clean bandage

done

James Slaughter wrote: I do not change the band-aids or dressing every day. If you do this, all you are doing is reopening the wound and exposing it to more infection.

Works for me.
I'm not expecting infection. If it does, that tea trea'll get a real workout!
I'm getting it checked by a doctor tomorrow, but it feels really good.

Good! You'll have to let us know how it turns out. I used honey on a deep, but small, burn on my finger one day and it was almost instantly soothed, the blister was gone by the next day and it only left a very faint scar. As a nurse, I was deeply impressed with the speed of the action of the honey and did some research that supported the good healing properties of the honey. Searched our catalog at work only to find that the our medical supply place was charging an arm and a leg for honey impregnated gauze dressings and calling it Medi-honey. Just like the pharm companies to try and capitalize on something everyone has in their cupboards!

FYI: If every time you remove a bandage it opens the wound, the dressing is not done properly. The dressing material should not be clinging to the wound surface or the drainage from it unless you have merely applied a dry dressing(not recommended unless the wound is sealed and healing well, at which time a dry dressing would be for protection of the site).

The reason for changing dressings to deep lacerations~particularly when sustained from a dirty tool/blade/surface~is to assess the site for infection/inflammation each day. In three days of being covered, moist from sweat and oil secretions, occluded from airflow, a wound can become like a petri dish for bacteria~in three days time your wound can become septic and can even begin to cause septicemia, or blood poisoning, as it is commonly called. Best to get air to the wound, give it a good look see, cleanse it gently and redress it with fresh bandage and topical ointment/salve/balm to speed the healing of the site.

Just my nursing 2 cents on that subject...

dragons blood works a charm. dragons blood.
My (then) 5 year old cut his finger to the bone and all we used was an elastic and dragons blood. Awesome stuff.

3 cheers for raw honey. I cut through the tip of my index and nail while trying to hang a duck off a bungee cord for plucking. Can you say maximum bacter, my wife's screaming stiches theres birds to be plucked and my fingers running like a fountain. Mashed it with stiptic until it stopped flowing then just arnica and raw honey. Twice a day for a week and I was able to go back to plucking with a 1 inch bandage, It's a bit insane how much raw honey works and during the age of ignorance we walked past it belly aching about our wounds. I think if I was cut in half my last request would be for a cigarette and a jar of honey.

I'm in an herbalism program right now and got this tidbit recently: for deep and/or puncture wounds, use a tincture of St John's Wort--just squirt it in there like a wash. Good stuff.