boynicholas
Posts: 27
Joined: 4/26/2005
Status: offline
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Any time you open your skin (intentionally or accidentally) you have a risk of infection. Your skin functions as a barrier to keep bad things out, so when you violate it, you run a risk.
That said, we do this all the time in medicine and the risk is minimal as long as you are very clean about it. To be honest there is less risk of infection if I place a suture into intact, pre-cleaned skin than if I do the same thing into traumatized skin which requires sutures for repair of injury.
Several caveats though:
1)There is some risk in this, you can't make it 0 by following scrupulous technique.
2)Most people do less than perfect technique (even if they are health care providers.)
3)This only applies to healthy people... if you are a diabetic, have heart valve disease, or any number of other problems, this is not necessarily as safe a sport for you, so you should talk with your doctor first.
With regards to technique, two small words of advice. First buy some hibicleanse (chlorhexidine.) Its a pink liquid soap available over the counter. Clean there area you are going to play with in the shower using hibicleanse as the soap. Really take a minute or two to soap and suds the area up. Then if you want to be really safe, use provodine iodine before playing. The deal with iodine is nobody ever does it right. You have to apply it and let the coat fully air dry for it to have a bacteriocidal effect. And its like painting your house... 2 or 3 coats is best, but you really have to let it dry between coats.
Unrelated but if you have any problems with recurrent skin infections, hibicleanse is the cure for plagues of boils.
Lastly don't suture yourself at home! First off, that is way more likely to get infected than piercing clean skin. Even done by health care providers, about 2% of repaired lacerations get infected. Just don't go there. You don't know how many home repair jobs I have to open up 2 days later when the thing is entirely pussed out. And then you are going to get a scar the size of Kansas. If you can't fix it with butterflies and tincture of benzoin, see someone to fix it for you. (But then I am the king of taping shit together with butterflies and benzoin. 6 inch gash? No prob!)
And the single most important thing that ¾ of people don't do before coming to see the doctor is just wash the cut for a minute under clean running water. Flush that puppy for 60 seconds at the time of injury and it is worth me irrigating it for 20 minutes an hour later. Even just upending your drink bottle of water over it if you are outside. The water doesn't have to be sterile, just clean.
Nick
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Stitching - 
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RE: Stitching - 
OOOOUUUUCCCCHHHHH I didnt even know people done this. You asked how they ensure protecting the person I cant answer I dont see how you could 100% there is huge risk there so many I dont know where to start.
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