Does this chainsaw wound need stitches?

[Fatherwheels]

Man...I got flashbacks when I saw that wound! I had nearly the same wound across my left knee cap, about 13 years ago. Clearing our house lot off, end of the day, thinking how I'm getting tired. Few small scraggly spruce in front of me, so I decided to lop em off. As I did, a couple came my way, pushed the still turning, freshly sharpened 20" bar and chain on my 038 onto the knee. Never felt a thing. Only wearing jean's... tore a strip of flesh out, about the length of my index finger and 1/2" wide...4 inside stitches and 4 out. Took a super long time to heal and I couldn't bend my knee for 2 months. Ended up walking off balance and hurting my right knee because of it. Have two pair of very nice cutting pants now tho....lol

My heart jumped when I saw it, took me right back to the day a guy cut through my jeans with an old McCullough and a 3ft bar,
I was looking and looking waiting for the pour of blood to start, couldn't believe he managed to cut the jeans only, and on the tight
part a few inches above my knee, I had a miraculous escape, don't even know if it had a chain stop when you let go the trigger, I
suspect not.

 

[pdqdl]

Just a side note about wounds, bad results, and doctors:

I recently attended the funeral of my brother-in-law. A few weeks before, he fell off a ladder and hurt his leg. X-rays didn't find a fracture; "treat it gently, you'll be ok." Time passes, and it still hurts. Orthopod (bone doctor) says "Let's take an MRI of that sore leg... Oh my! You have a non-displaced fracture!" So! Cast and bed rest; all is well, you'll be fine.

Within a week he fell down dead from pulmonary embolism. Basically, a blood clot went downstream from his leg and got filtered out by the lungs, thereby stopping them up. It turns out that deep vein thrombosis is caused most often in the legs by inactivity, lying prone, or extended sitting with poor blood circulation.

My personal belief is that if he had kept walking on it, living the uncomfortable to move but still active life, he might have been just fine, having never formed the blood clot that killed him. Since the doctor told him to stay off his feet in the fear that the hairline fracture might break all the way, I think that wasn't necessarily the best advice.
Of course, hindsight is 20-20, but pulmonary embolism is a common side effect among older folks with broken legs.

Bottom line: sometimes we get better in spite of what our doctors do for us. Results are better now than 200 years ago, but going to see the doctor isn't always the best choice. Other times, it is your only hope.

Yes, I have been self-treating myself for many years. But I also know more about medicine and medical necessicity than most folks. I have removed a full leg cast, 'cause it was a piece of crap that I didn't need, I have put in my own stitches, fixed cuts with superglue and sticky strips, and countless successful treatments with veterinary antibiotics. I seldom return to the doctor for stitch removal, and I really only go to the doctor/hospital when I know what is wrong and whether on not I can deal with it on my own. That being said, I am probably alive or at least not a serious cripple because of all of my medical rescues. I have also been misdiagnosed for fractured knee, collarbone, crushed lumbar vertebra, inguinal hernia, and i've had unnecessary facial surgery foisted off on me when I was too young to know it. So! Go see the doctor if you can afford it. Just keep your eyes & ears open, and get a second opinion if they don't give sensible advice.

 

[softdown]

Saltwater fish get lots of infections. They pass diseases around just like people do. They also get eaten by something else pretty quickly if they start to slow down from feeling ill.

It's just that tree guys usually aren't getting cut where the infectious saltwater bacteria are located. The bacteria that hang out in forests & urban settings generally aren't well adapted to salt water either, so there might be something to be said for the saltwater treatments that have been suggested.

As far as that goes, I don't recall too many human pathogens that are spread around in salt water either, and that is based on courses I took in pathogenic microbiology quite a few years back.

I've only got 43 years of fish experience. Another student who thinks he can trump the real world with a book.

 

[MariHer75]

you should seek a doctors advice for that.

 

[Shaun Bowler]

Took my chaps out of the truck for a swap meet and forgot to put them back or I'd had them on. So i am falling a small tree trying to keep it inside a fence line doing 1 of my trick cuts about 4 to 5 foot up on the stump at steep angle so the butt would slide down to the ground and it would fall short of the fence. Learned the hard way why not to cut up high like that. The butt coming down sent the 025 downward also and the blade bounced off my knee before the chain stopped. If I had chapps on ,pretty sure it would have stopped chain . To many no no,s on my part.
Bleeding has stopped now that i ve been reclined for the night. Was bleeding enough to soak through the bandage and wet the whole knee area of my pants when i was actively doing some evening chores

In my 40 years of Tree Work I never wore Chaps. They did not have them until the 1990s. When I started climbing our climbing lines were 3 strand Manila. Anyway, you can not be serious whether or not you need stiches. BTW. I saw a guy "back in the day" @ 1979 spike himself in the calf, take some fresh "sap" pack it in and drove himself to the ER @ 60 miles away.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Clean it and duct tape it, I took a 066 to the leg in 1986, huge cut, lots of blood. I cleaned it and gauze with duct tape,, scar looks better than if I had stitches.
Jeff
It was a beautiful day!

 

[Brushwacker]

That's long enough ago I forgot all the Dr. said. I think he or she told me they may of put a staple in it if i would of come in the same day, but didn't since I waited. They did give me an antibiotic and it healed in a reasonable amount of time.
Since I started wearing chaps in the mid 1990s I visually prefer them vs. not. Keep my cloths underneath clean, protect me from briars and most of all prevent or lessen chainsaw cuts.. I have nicked myself more then a few times over the years.. I didn't wear them during the 1980's and these days I don't always put them on for short intervals in very hot weather .trying avoid some of the heat stress when a lot of movement is required. They usually though feel quite comfortable to have on, and give my knees a little padding when needed. The benifits far outweigh any disadvantage for me 95 to 99% of the time .

 

[Huskybill]

I bought my sons chaps one doesn’t use them I need to show him this.

 

[Joisey]

Good man, you will never regret taking the extra precaution, and now us guys won't have to possibly read about you getting very sick.

Back in about 2014, i was working in my shop hanging some hand tools on a wall rack. Of all the stupid things that could happen, a pitchfork fell of the rack and one of the tines stuck into my forearm about 1/4 below the skin. It hurt pretty bad but bled very little, but looked pretty black and blue. I did what I normally do and threw the pitch fork , swore at it, and went on with what I was doing.
Later that evening I casually told my wife the story "look at this hole in my arm from a f$@#&! Pitchfork...." well in about 10 minutes we were in the car to the 24hr emergency care, with me like the dumb family dog going to the vet. Got it looked at, cleaned, tetanus booster. I got lectured on taking injuries seriously, and in hindsight I learned something about not being apathetic about getting hurt and getting medical treatment when you really ought to.

Puncture wounds are usually not free bleeding, and by their nature drive the germs/dirt deep into the wound. They are nothing to take lightly.

 

[blades]

begining of sept an 8' x4' very heavy pallet got away from me in the wind. slid down my inside left calf. hurt like the dickens but no tears in pants or broken skin or any other slivers. had an appt set for apx 10 days later to set up new primary care person -old doc retired, so while i was there showed it off . big scab like thing had formed at bottom of bruise and things were a bit swollen. Next thing I know is im at hospital and they are digging it out. what was apx 1. x 1.5 scab became a 2.5 x 3.5 x 1/4 '+ deep hole in my leg. Guess they were worried about blood clots or ? any way what they gave me ( well orderd and charged me for it) to put on this is a honey infused patch. That triggered the memory of the farm and that is what we used there right out of the hive. They have fancy special tree stuff now, but guess what doing the some research ( the stuff they gave me was god awful expensive) Good old fashion raw honey works just fine. something in the honey ( enzemes +?) works to keep infections away including staff and mersa as well as any of their fancy high priced stuff. Several studies done on this. Just some info for ya all. at this point the hole has filled in and over all size is about 7/8 x1.34. pic is about 2 weeks after they dug around in it. go back to wound center every so often and they dig around somemore removing dead tissue. my normal way would have been to just ignore it. ya i got a nasty tongue lashing.
almost forgot wally world has the impregnated honey patches on the shelf in a band aid style, although I cut the adhesive off and just use the patch with a gauze wrap as this little treat is still weeping.