How likely are you to survive a stab wound?

A wound—minor and fatal can happen in any occasion. As for a stab wound, it is often resulted from the act of crime. Many people report to be stabbed upon robbery, murder, and rape attempt. A stab wound can either be minor or fatal, depending on the body area that is affected. However, since a stab wound affect not only the epidermis, but also the inner part of your skin, even flesh, it is quite complicated. Seeing the degree of the wound, how likely are you to survive after stabbed?

What is the characteristics of a stab wound?

A stab wound varies in depth. However, as this wound is usually reported from crime acts which is purposed to injure or kill the victim, it is usually serious. Stab wounds happen from penetrating trauma to the skin caused by pointing objects. Abdomen and back have been the most common injured from stab wounds. Cops report that several of them are injured several times from stabbing. When you are stabbed, usually you feel these characteristics:

1. A stab wound is generally connected to crime acts, such as homicide, robbery, snatching, and rape.
2. A stab wound is usually, if not mostly, initially unnoticed. Certain people like those cops are trained to numb their bodies when they face harmful situation. Hence, when they are stabbed, they keep their body numb and think about the worst thing that might happen in the situation. It is because some cops believe that adrenaline is the natural pain killer. Some other people also experience the numb situation. Women who are robbed or snatched, for instance, are too shock to realize that they could have been stabbed, that they do not feel that the knife is indeed there.
3. A stab wound is caused by a deep trauma accepted by the skin as the result of pointed things, such as a knife. A stab wound can cause internal and external bleeding. This bleeding is caused by the stroke vessels during the actions.
4. A stab wound, unlike most other wounds, will only affect the path it took without damaging the surrounding tissues, as long as there’s no infection.
5. A stab wound will require a treatment that is conclude from what causes the injury and what size is the stabbing object. This is also to conclude how far the stab wound may affect the internal tissues.
6. People are rarely dead because of merely the stab wound. Further complications such as profuse bleeding and infection are more possible culprits.

Can I survive a stab wound?

Similar to other kind of injuries, a stab wound can be an easy-to-treat wound or the fatal one. When you are stabbed, you are more likely to survive if:

1. Your stab wound is immediately treated. This is important to keep your systolic level and body temperature. Stabilized systolic level and body temperature will prepare your body at the best condition what if a surgery is needed to treat the wound.
2. The stab doesn’t affect major blood vessels. As stated, a stab wound will only affect the path it gives a trauma to. When the knife or another stabbing device stab your major vessels, you will experience profuse bleeding and eventually run out of blood stream.
3. The stab wound doesn’t get infected. There are some kinds of things that can cause infection to a wound. In case of a stab wound, improper treatment can worsen the wound and produce the pus. Besides, the possibility of getting stabbed with dirty or rusty knife will heighten the risk of getting infection. Thus, you have to make sure your stab wound is properly cared so that it won’t get worse.
4. The stab doesn’t get into your vital organs. As abdomen and back are the common areas to be traumatized by a stab wound, you will likely survive the injury if the stab doesn’t not get into vital organs around your abdomen and back. As long as your lungs, kidneys, or large intestine are not affected, you have the chance of surviving the wound.

A stab wound, as do the other injuries, requires proper treatment to heighten the chance of survival. Hence, it is important to keep your wound well-treated and sterilized.