Help When Are Stitches Needed? [Self Harm]

[Anonymoususer1234]

A little while ago I cut myself deeper than usual. Not deep enough to see fat, and the cut stopped bleeding after five or so minutes. But it's a wide-ish cut and it's healing very slowly and it hurts more than my usual cuts.

I was wondering if maybe I should have gotten stitches when it happened?

So I figured it might help to ask here: how do you know that you need stitches? Are there cases where stitches aren't strictly necessary but are still beneficial? Should you seek medical treatment even if you don't know that you need it for sure?

 

[Life_and_Death]

Should you seek medical treatment even if you don't know that you need it for sure?

when you dont know something is the best time to seek help. if you dont know then you cant know if youre making a good judgement or not.

Are there cases where stitches aren't strictly necessary but are still beneficial?

yes, i had a scrape on my hand. my husband said that i probably should have gone to the hospital and had my skin glued back in place or something. i just bandaged it up and took care of it, i was fine. it would have to be pretty bad before i went to the hospital for a cut. (but thats just me, dont use that judgement for yourself. i just fear stitches. you should go see a doc when you need to)
im not a doc, but judging by the sound of it stitches might be beneficial. id probably try to get by without though. keeping it clean covered, but still getting air.
from my understanding stitches are mostly just used to hold the skin together to assist with healing(? again, not a doc, could be wrong). but personally i like the fabric bandaids (again depending on the injury) id just keep it all "tucked together" kind of like using the bandaid as a piece of tape to hold the skin together (and keep the dirt out)

just my personal advice on how id handle it with limited information though

 

[lessthanperfect]

A little while ago I cut myself deeper than usual. Not deep enough to see fat, and the cut stopped bleeding after five or so minutes. But it's a wide-ish cut and it's healing very slowly and it hurts more than my usual cuts.

I was wondering if maybe I should have gotten stitches when it happened?

So I figured it might help to ask here: how do you know that you need stitches? Are there cases where stitches aren't strictly necessary but are still beneficial? Should you seek medical treatment even if you don't know that you need it for sure?

If you're worried even slightly that you might need stitches, you need to see a doctor. Better to go and them tell you it'll heal on its own than for you to stay in pain or make it worse.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

*Please note that I am not a medical professional so anything that I say should probably be taken with a grain of salt*

You need stitches if the cut is deep, long, and/or is bleeding for longer than 10 minutes even when direct pressure is applied to it. In regards to the cut that you got, you probably would not have needed stitches (though they may have been beneficial in speeding up the healing process) and could have gotten away with just using steri-strips. If you aren't sure about if your cut needs medical attention or not then you should go straight to the hospital. Better safe than sorry.

Also, try getting to the hospital between 6 to 8 hours after you've got the cut or at least within 24 hours. They can't give you stitches after a certain amount of time.

 

[CuriosityAndCat]

I was washing dishes and cut the back of my hand. I was wondering do I need to get stitches for this? I decided to just go to ER, the answer was yes it needed stitches.
If you're asking yourself this looks bad; you should probably get the wound stitched up.