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  Discussion on Full Skin Thickness Wound, How to deal with
Author Message
Member:
cspanhel

Posted on Saturday, Aug 11, 2007 - 10:44 am:

I just reviewed the article on wound care...My mare ran into the tail gate of a vehicle last night, tearing the skin @ the front of the elbow...It appears to be a full skin thickness wound. There was very little bleeding. The skin is still intact, but approx 2 inches are loose.

I cleaned the wound and applied antibiotic ointment, but no bandage as I doubt one would stay on in that location given the amount of movement.

There is some swelling this morning, but not excessive. The wound is closing up..

the article indicated that often stitches are needed for this type of wound...How can I evaluate whether stitches (and a vet on Saturday) are needed? thanks ! cynthia
Member:
judyhens

Posted on Saturday, Aug 11, 2007 - 11:57 am:

Hi Cynthia!
Which mare? Boy it's been hot! One of our babies had about a 1/2" cut above one eye a few weeks ago. Amazingly, Jay was here and said we would prevent scarring if he stitched it. So he did. No further treatment was necessary and the stitches came out on their own. I think Elgin only likes to stitch if the wound is fresh...but I am not sure. Sounds like it is already starting to heal. I think Nolvason (sp?) ointment may be preferable to a petroleum based antibiotic re: prevention of development of proud flesh. Dardanos is completely normal now, except the new hairs are white. Oh well...at least he will be a white horse!

Look forward to reading Dr. O's suggestions. Keep us posted. If it is a pregnant mare, you might want to be certain the vet is aware if he does decide to stitch or give antibiotics.

Hugs and carrots to all....Keep cool! - Maybe someday we could go to one of the HA vacations together! Also, we are going to LV on our way to Hawaii. Just not taking any horses. The transporter who picked up some sold horses lately said the trip involved going through quite a bit of 100+ temperatures. I'm worried it would be too hard on the horses...

Judy
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Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 13, 2007 - 6:55 am:

Hello Cynthia,
Reread the article as I don't believe it states that stitches are "needed" to heal wounds. But there are wounds that heal better and faster if stitched. Really the way to look at it is not "which wounds need to be sutured?" but instead "which wounds can be safely sutured with a good chance of holding?".

The article outlines some of the factors used to determine this but I think we could expound on these a bit more so I will edit the article this week. In this particular case Cynthia, it is uncertain that you were full skin thickness since you comment it appear to be closing and if it were the wound should be a bit fresher than 12 hours old to suture.
DrO
Member:
cspanhel

Posted on Monday, Aug 13, 2007 - 10:44 am:

Thanks Dr O for your insights. I decided to just hose at least once daily and medicate. There is still about a 1/4" gap between the skin pieces, but the swelling is going down, there is no heat, and she appears to be healing up ok. There will probably be a scar, but that is OK. THANKS AGAIN! CYNTHIA
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