Health Topics for Prepare for Emergencies

Department of Emergency Medicine

Emergency Medical Services Learning Resources Center

Cuts and scrapes: shallow

Shallow cuts and scrapes are common. Many adults have occasional abrasions, and they may occur in toddlers nearly every day.

It is often hard to know when a cut can safely be treated at home. Such minor cuts are usually shorter than one-half of an inch and do not appear to be deep. They do not gape open widely, have little red muscle or yellow fat visible, and do not continue to bleed after pressure has been applied for a few minutes.

If you decide to treat a cut or scrape at home, you should:

• clean the wound thoroughly with clean running water
• apply a sterile bandage
• you may apply a topical antibiotic ointment available without a prescription from a pharmacy (such as Bacitracin or Neosporin)
• keep the wound from exposure to strong direct sunlight while it is healing
• clean and change the dressing if it gets dirty
• you may have to scrub scrapes and abrasions in order to remove ground-in dirt (Although this will hurt, it is necessary to minimize the chance of infection.)

Watch for signs of infection. If any of the following develops, call your doctor right away:

• increasing pain
• redness spreading out from the wound, or forming a streak up an arm or leg
• the wound begins to smell bad
• yellow pus comes out of the wound
• the area around the wound is getting hotter
• you begin to run a fever and do not feel well

If it has been more than 5 years since your last tetanus shot, call your healthcare provider to arrange for a booster shot.

Last Reviewed 2005

Disclaimer: This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional.

HIL File PREP4907.RF2 VRS# 4907 Data Version 7.0 Copyright 1999 McKesson Health Solutions LLC. All rights reserved.