What to do? The neighbors cat bit my hand--hard. Rinse the injury with soap and water. Then keep an eye on it. If pain, redness, or swelling increases over the next few hours or days let your doctor know what happened and get his/her first available appointment. If he/she doesnt have any immediate openings (say, hes/shes putting you off for a few days), proceed to the emergency room. According to a study published in The Journal of Hand Surgery, almost 30 percent of patients who seek medical attention after a cat bite to their hands end up needing hospitalization (and often surgery) to treat infection. Many of the rest require oral antibiotics on an outpatient basis. The reason: Unlike dog bites, which often create open wounds that are easier to clean and allow for drainage, cat bites tend to be deep, narrow, and hard to reach. Plus, the joints and tendons in the hand are close to the skin and contain fluid that can act as a breeding ground for bacteria, says Brian T. Carlson, a hand surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. That makes hands particularly susceptible to infection.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:40:13 +0000
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