Most of us know how painful it is to have a skinned knee. The pain is way different than having a serious deep incision, however, it can always be a distraction for our daily routine and also usually a skinned knee takes longer time to heal as our knee tends to move a lot.

`              A scraped knee often considerable as a minor wound and can be cured at home. But it does not matter how small your wound is, taking the right steps will help your wound to heal at the soonest. Below are some steps that you can practice at home if you are experiencing skinned knees. These steps are classified further into 3 sections that are assessing the wound, cleaning and dressing the wound and at last taking care of the wound as it heals.

ASSESSING THE SKINNED KNEE

1. Assess the situation.

After you scrape your knee, you are recommended to check your wound if they are treatable at home or if they need a more professional medical treatment. Wound without jagged edge or visible bone, muscle, or nerve can be considered as wound that is treatable at home.

If your skin was roughly rubbed against metal or rustic property and you have not been shot with tetanus for the last five years, considering taking an update vaccine so you will not be infected with the virus.

2. Wash your hand before treating the wound

Disposable gloves like the ones worn by paramedic team are always the best way to keep your hand sterile from bacteria as well as keeping your wound from being infected. However, should you don’t have them at home, you can always keeping your hands clean by washing them in running water and also use some soap that can kill more germs and bacteria than just water.

3. Stop the blood.

A skinned knee might not bleed as much as a deep incision. However, should your wound secreting blood, you can always try to stopping it at home before assessing it further and seeing your doctor when needed.

Use a clean cloth or gauze to stop the bleeding. You can press them over your wound for couple of minutes and rinse the cloth that is soaked with blood. If debris or any other material is blocking the spot where your knee is bleeding, rinse your wound first and clean the blockage before stopping the blood.

If your skinned knee does not stop bleeding in couple of minutes even after you practice the pressure, it is always best for you to see your doctor immediately as your wound might requires some stiches.

CLEANING AND DRESSING THE WOUND

1. Rinse the wound.

Let cool water runs over your skinned knee for couple of second to make sure that if there are any debris or material that covers your skinned knee, they are washed away. This is important to avoid infection that can cause your skinned knee to heal longer than it should be.

2. Wash the wound.

Using antibacterial soap is always recommended to wash the setting around your skinned knee or your wound. However, make sure that the soap does not get in contact directly with your wound that it might cause irritation.

The use of hydrogen peroxide and iodine was very common before, however, as the medical theory has developed the paramedic team nowadays not quite often use that substances as they might kill the living cell as well as the germs.

3. Remove any debris

Even after rinsing your wound with running water, you will still need to check if there is any debris left behind on your skinned knee. If you still see some foreign material covering or existing on your wound, we will suggest for you to use tweezers that has been sterilized with gauzed that has been soaked in isopropyl alcohol to remove the disturbing material.

Once your wound has been cleaned and all the debris has been removed, pat your skinned knee with dry soft cloth and apply some antibiotic ointment to prevent your skinned knee from infection. On top of everything, you might also want to cover your skinned knee with bandage on the first days to avoid any germs or bacteria get in contact with your wound.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR WOUND AS IT HEALS

1. Change your dressing every day.

Not only the dressing that requires changing every day. Your bandage will also require to be changed daily as well as the application of antibiotic ointment.

2. Take care of your general health.

Actually, the speed of your wound does not rely fully on the medication you apply on your skinned knee. It is also relying a lot on your overall health condition, lifestyle, your food, whether or not you smoke, any genetic illness, etc.

So as long as you live a healthy lifestyle, eating nutritious foods that are enriched with vitamin C and B-complex it can also make your skinned knee heals faster.