Skinned Knee Treatment

Now why would I think of writing an article on skinned knee treatment? Isn't skinning knees and scraping elbows an everyday phenomenon? Well, yes it is. Nearly all of us have slipped, fallen and skinned our knees and elbows at least once in our lives. Young children, with the amount of playing and running around that they do, are the ones who are most likely to slip, fall and end up with scraped elbows or skinned knees. However, despite it being a seemingly harmless and common injury, taking care of a skinned knee through timely treatment is very important. This is because a minor case of a bruised or skinned knee may later manifest into a major skinned knee infection, if not given timely care and appropriate treatment. Therefore, on that note, let us have a look at a few aspects of skinned knee care and skinned knee healing.

Treating Skinned Knee

1. Cleaning the wound thoroughly is the first thing you should do as part of skinned knee first aid activities. First clean the wound using normal tap water. Using your fingers, gently try and remove as much superficial dirt, gunk and foreign bodies as possible. It will cause a bit of pain, so be gentle.
2. Next, apply a little bit of mild soap to the skinned area, and using your fingers, rub it gently to clean it further. Rinse it with warm water or normal tap water.
3. Now examine the wound properly. If you notice any deep cuts in the skin, then it may require stitches or sutures. In that case, it is advisable that you visit a doctor for the necessary medical procedures.
4. However, if you find that it is a minor case of a superficially bruised or skinned knee, then basic first aid treatment should be more than enough.
5. If the wound is still bleeding, then you need to wait until the bleeding stops. Wet a paper towel or tissue and hold it against the wound so that it absorbs the oozing blood. Gently dab the area from time to time so that blood does not accumulate around the skinned area.
6. Make sure that you remove all remaining traces of debris or foreign bodies from the skinned area before you proceed to bandaging the wound. For this purpose, you can use a pair of medical tweezers if necessary.
7. Now using a ball of cotton, apply a small amount of liquid antiseptic disinfectant such as Dettol over the skinned knee. Make sure that you cover the entire wounded area. Once again, it will sting a bit so be prepared.
8. Once the solution has dried, you can further disinfect the wound using hydrogen peroxide solution. It is commonly available in all medical stores, so buying it should not be a problem. Apply a few drops of the peroxide solution to a ball of cotton and dab it gently across the entire surface of the skinned area. Hydrogen peroxide too causes a bit of sting, but it is momentary.
9. After the peroxide has dried, apply a bit of first aid powder such as Neosporin to the wound. Dab it gently using a clean and dry piece of cotton.
10. Now you can either bandage it with a regular band aid, or you can cover it with a piece of clean, sterilized cotton, and tape the cotton in place using medical tape.
11. Make sure that the bandage isn't too tight. You can either let the bandage remain in place for a couple of days, or you can open it on alternate days so that the skin is able to breathe.
12. Watch out for any signs of pus or any other yellowish, milky foul-smelling discharge. It always is a sign of an infection. In such cases, immediately visit your doctor so that the infection is treated in time. If not, the wound could become septic and the infection could also spread to adjoining areas.

So how long does it take for a skinned knee to heal? Well, the answer to that question depends upon how early you begin with skinned knee treatment, how well you monitor the healing progress, and of course, the severity of the injury. Generally speaking, it should be fine within a week's time, and at the most 2 weeks if it is a slightly bad hurt. Timely and appropriate action will ensure that you are up and running within no time at all.