All of us deal with wounds and various types of skin damage during our lives. However, what we don’t realize is the fact that each type of wound has its specifics and potential challenges. It’s imperative to learn what are the 6 different types of wounds we could deal with, and what makes them different from one another.
Excoriation
If we talk in layman’s terms, an excoriation is a scratch, where you have a partial thickness shearing for the skin. But in this case, most clinicians see excoriation as denudation. You have partial loss of epidermis, even though it’s not very severe. A good example of excoriation appears when you are in light contact with your cat’s claws. When the damage is more severe, you will encounter other issues, such as abrasion. We will cover excoriation below!
Abrasion
Abrasions are superficial wounds or scrapes. These appear when your skin scrapes/rubs over a rough surface. Such wounds are very common if you perform outdoor activities or sports. You end up losing the top layer of the skin, or it gets severely damaged. Most abrasions appear in areas that are prone to contact, these include wrists, ankles, knees and so on.
One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of abrasions can be painful. Not only that, but they could end up being associated with swelling or even bleeding. That’s especially true if you slide or run on rough surfaces. A lot of the time, you can handle the situation by covering the wound with a sterile bandage. Applying an antibiotic ointment can be extremely good as well, and it could provide a much better result than expected.
Lacerations
When we talk about lacerations, things are a bit more complicated when compared to the wounds described above. Lacerations are deeper cuts. They are caused by either blunt force trauma, or a sharp object damaging our skin. Most of the time, lacerations will have jagged edges, and they also tend to be very painful. Some of them can be very deep, others are superficial.
Common laceration types include:
- Split lacerations, where the subcutaneous issues and your skin get crushed between 2 objects, and they get split apart.
- Stretch lacerations overstretch the skin and they make it flap towards the injury’s direction. Most of the time, these lacerations appear due to tangential impact.
- Then, we have chop lacerations, brought by a hatchet or an item with a very heavy, sharp edge.
Lastly, we have tears, which come from direct impact with blunt objects, which cause skin tearing.
Skin tears
A skin tear is a wound caused by blunt force, friction or shear, which ends up separating skin layers. If you have a skin tear, you could end up with some skin loss, no skin loss, or total flap loss, which would expose the entire wound bed. Skin tears can be problematic to deal with, especially if you’re an older person and the healing process is not as fast.
Punctures
Punctures are usually caused by sharp objects. These penetrate your skin, and they are very deep. However, these wounds don’t tend to be very wide, which could be a benefit, because they should be easier to treat. The downside is that whenever a nail or something similar ends up damaging your skin, that could be very painful. And yes, punctures can take quite a lot of time to heal, with some people not even taking them seriously. Yet they can be severe, lead to infections, and that’s why you have to address them right away.
Avulsion
Skin avulsions appear when the tissue is separated, but also torn apart forcefully. A lot of the time, you will have absent tissue in the case of an avulsion. On top of that, your wound will end up bleeding rapidly. And yes, there will be heavy bleeding, a common situation whenever you have an avulsion. With that in mind, most of these avulsions go beyond the subcutaneous tissue.
It’s common to have some avulsions reach your bone or muscle at the very least. They are similar to skin tears, but in this case, they tend to just expose the subcutaneous tissue. That means a skin tear is more dangerous, but even an avulsion is something serious you should tackle right away.
Conclusion
It’s very important to learn as much as you can about the different wound types and how you can treat them the best way you can. At the end of the day, you will always encounter all kinds of wounds, and it’s important to understand their characteristics. Once you do that, it will become much easier to prevent infections, while also learning how to treat your wounds and stay safe. If these wounds are not treated quickly, bacteria could end up affecting them, and that’s why you need to be very careful!
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Visit www.windycitywoundcare.com to learn more about how we can help you or your loved ones achieve better health and recovery from the comfort of home. With Windy City Wound Care, expert care is just a call away.
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- Visit our website at www.windycitywoundcare.com.
- Fax referrals to 844-333-1773.
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