Thread: Deep cuts, Laserations.

Besides a proper medical environment, What would be your alternatives for dealing with;
Blood stoppage, Closing wounds, Dressings, and infection prevention.
Duct tape, Super glue, Whiskey and a Rambo knot? I also need to get a suture kit any resources?
Thanks,
Shawn.

My blood loss prevention items consist of the following:

TK4 tourniquets
QuikClot Combat Gauze
QuikClot Sponges
H&H Associates H-Bandages
H&H PriMed Compressed Gauze
Bolin Chest Seal
Duct Tape

As far as where to find supplies here are some of my sources:
Chinook Medical Gear, Inc - Your Source for Medical Kits, Tactical Combat Casualty Care Items, Emergency First Aid Supplies including hemostatic, bandages, personal protection, iv supplies, tourniquets, evacuation and more!
https://www.entrygear.com/list.asp?listtype=mfg&mfg=89
Emergency Medical Supplies Kits Products Equipment EMT Rescue Essentials
Synthetic Absorbable | Suture Direct

Amazon.com search "blood clotting agents"

I'm an old RN that recommends home first aid kits with all the bells and whistles...but I am realistic. Most young folks just aren't going to buy specific medical kits with real pressure bandages because they think they will never need it and money is always an issue when beginning to prepare your family for emergencies.

So I teach young folks to use things like feminine hygiene pads (and even tampons) for direct pressure bandages to stop bleeding, reinforcing with less sterile options like towel, shirt etc until proper medical help can be obtained. As a surgical RN we often used sterile feminine pads for some wound care needs (even on men). Of course the newer thinner pads aren't quite as useful as the older type ones did...but most homes have more feminine pads than they do large bulky bandages, so that makes them a good solution in an emergency. My first aid kits all have packages of compressed feminine pads in waterproof (freshsaver type bags) that I use for stopping blood...and clotting sponges and granules if clotting does not occur naturally by mechanical pressure. BTW...tampax (cut to need) can be used for serious nose bleeds and fracture. LOL!

I don't think you could call these pads "sterile" but they are close to it if sealed in the original packaging and a better option than a wad of paper towels or rags. I've used those pads many times on my sons friends that got banged up in middle of the night that they drug home for me to do first aid on them and they work better than those 2x2's and 4x4's most first aid kits have in them.

BTW...my son calls them my redneck bandages!

This is a great combo with a reasonable price. QuikClot is spendy.

Sometimes there's the krazy glue option, too...

Upland bird hunters always carry super glue for their dogs.Never know when them high strung pups will tear a hole in themselves.

Last summer I was working on my truck and slammed my head on a door latch of a suicide door on a Dodge truck.Stepped up hard into the top latch.
Tore a 3inch gash in my scalp.Sucked real bad as it bled real bad.Luckily I have a hard head.had it knocked me out I may have bled to death.
I live alone

So after I calmed down,I grabbed a towel to catch the blood.Then I had to get rid of the hair.OK I'll sheer the area.(I have a set of barber sheers.Not real convenient away from home,though) Then I SHAVED it as best I could in the MIRROR .
(Fun part was pulling the skin back to make sure no hair was under the skin.Hey $1000 and a night in the emergency room? I can do this)
Then cleaning it with some cue tips.It was pretty clean after a pint of blood ran out,just had to make sure the hair from shaving was out the way.
Then SUTURES or butterfly bandages to seal it shut.I think all I had was bandages.Maybe some of that cloth med tape.The next day I sponged it clean and put the sutures on it.

Didn't really like the compression of my disks, the adrenaline helped there ,or the initial hit,but it was a great learning experience.

With deep cuts, I thought you had to worry about not closing them up right away lest they trap some kind of infection deep inside the skin? Or, is it ok to close them up right away (to stop blood loss) - and then open them up to heal later? (using packing material to keep them from closing up too fast?)

go to Adventure First Aid Kits | AMP-3, LLC | Portland, OR
they got you covered with some high quality gear
www.amp-3.net

One more time. Your farm supply store carries lots of goodies. It's legal to Dr. your animals. They have penicillin, syringes, suture kits, bandage kits... Go check it out.

For a deep wound I would load up 500cc of penicillin, and shoot it into the wound in several places. That's after I washed it with denatured alcohol or another topical disinfectant like maybe iodine. Then I'd sew it up, and give it another 500cc every day for a week. If the wound is really deep, you do need to leave it partly open to drain until it begins to heal. If you can find the "self-dissolving" suture thread, you can sew another row deeper into the wound and just leave it.

Don't buy rubbing alcohol for medicine. Ask the pharmacist for denatured alcohol. Rubbing means it has baby oil in it to help keep skin from drying out. That's not what you want to put into a wound.

I bought Quik-Clot, but later found out it causes second and third degree burns due to the chemical reaction.
I did some more research and found out the same company has a new product that doesn't cause burns, but costs twice as much.

I have several styptic pencils in my kit. They are primarily for stopping bleeding when you shave, but they will also work on moderate wounds, especially scrapes and scratches. They are super cheap. My wife just found some more of them at Bi-Mart. They really work, and fast.

The "Israeli Battle Dressing" bandage is sterile, and can be applied with one hand, incase you are alone.
They are available from amazon and others, including one of NWFA's sponsors: Oregon Firearms Academy.
Oregon Firearms Academy LLC Pro-Shop - Israeli Emergency Bandages

- John

In the wilds unprepared; Clean water, pine tar, and a willow bark cover tied down with a boot lace.

Otherwise all the previously listed options are available in a kit on my person.

Honey works wonders on a wound as well.

Ok, what about arteries? Hemastats, Closepin, Direct pressure, Then what?

Originally Posted by lowly monk

Ok, what about arteries? Hemastats, Closepin, Direct pressure, Then what?

If you don't have someone who can pinch it off and sew it up properly, you're in deep trouble. You still have to worry about infection.

I've read that in the Civil War, more soldiers died from infection (often gangrene) than did from the actual wound. There were no good doctors with antibiotics. If the SHTF, let's face it. We won't all survive. There won't be 911, an ambulance with paramedics, and ER. That doesn't mean we couldn't be as prepared as possible.