Mario is a 35-year-old male who has come into your ER with a laceration to his left hand. The laceration is a cut about 3 inches long, but fairly shallow. It appears that it was bleeding pretty heavily, but he has stopped the bleeding by holding pressure on it with an old t-shirt. He said it happened about an hour ago. At this phase of injury, how would you expect the area surrounding the injury to present?

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Complete Question

Mario is a 35-year-old male who has come into your ER with a laceration to his left hand. According to Mario, he was working on home renovations in his 1945 city bungalow, when an old board fell from a shelf and injured his hand. The laceration is a cut about 3 inches long, but fairly shallow. It appears that it was bleeding pretty heavily, but he has stopped the bleeding by holding pressure on it with an old t-shirt. He said it happened about an hour ago.

At this phase of injury, how would you expect the area surrounding the injury to present?

A. cool and blue

B. pink, warm, and dry

C. red and hot

D. dusky, gray, and clammy

C. red and hot

Explanation:

At this phase of Mario's injury, the area surrounding the injury is red and hot.

The area around the injury looks red because this is one of the primary stages of healing for Mario's injury and this injury happened an hour again. After a few hours to a few days the redness of the injury should disappear indicating an healing of the laceration. If the red look still remains, it means the injury is infected.

The area around Mario's injury feels hot, this is because the injury is fresh and it is normal for it to feel a bit warmer or hot when touched. It is important note that if the hotness persist and doesn't cool down, it means the body's immune system is releasing antibodies to the location of the laceration in order to fight any form of bacterial infection that may arise.