Symptoms and first response
A cut, a deep wound, a laceration with severe blood loss is a dramatic event; however, the rule of keeping as calm as possible always applies, whatever the circumstances in which the event occurred.
If the bleeding is very heavy you must expect the worst: have the injured person lie down on the ground, because with severe bleeding the casualty may go into cardiac collapse. Lying on the ground, the casualty is already in the ideal position for you to intervene with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Keep the limb above the heart so that the blood has more difficulty flowing out of the wound. Then go on with the treatment.
If the casualty has suffered a wound with severe blood loss, the first thing is to try to stop the bleeding with strong pressure on the wound. You will need to compress the area for at least ten minutes or so, to give the blood time to clot.
Once we see a noticeable decrease in the blood flow, it will then be possible to go on to cleaning and dressing the wound.
Gently disinfect the area, trying to remove any soil, dust or dirt from the wound, but without removing the crust of blood that may have formed between the two edges of torn skin. Bring the edges of the wound as close together as possible, place a couple of squares of sterile gauze over it with breathable adhesive tape, and finally bandage with a strip that must also be strictly sterile.
The bandage must be tight enough to stop the wound reopening but, at the same time, not so tight as to stop the circulation. Bear in mind too that, depending on the size of the wound, the affected limb will swell at least a little. So within an hour it will be necessary to loosen the bandage slightly.
If you have bandaged a calf or an arm, check that the blood circulation is still normal right down to the fingertips.
To check whether the blood is circulating normally in the affected limb, it is enough to press on the fingertips. Once the pressure is released, if the circulation is normal the whitish colour of the flesh will quickly turn pink again. If instead it tends to stay whitish, you will need to loosen the bandage.
To sum up briefly:
- Stop the bleeding
- Clean and dress the wound
- Bring the edges of the wound as close together as possible
- Bandage the wound