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Alright, now let's talk about capillary in the workplace. What you've got here is a classic road rash type of wound, or rug burn, or they fall and hit the floor. This happened to be on a sander, but the injury is exactly the same. It's characteristically going to have this kind of blood droplet that comes out of the capillaries, and is mixed with a cirrus fluid. What is that? Cirrus fluid is the same fluid that fills the blister of a burn, or if, you know, if you've ever gotten a rug - a rug burn, it's the kind that oozes that, it's not blood, it's more like a yellowish kind of, um, liquid. That's the bodies attempt to heal the wound, and it mixes now with the capillary and bleeding. And so, uh, you can have this kind of bleeding issue, but it stopped quite easily. The thing here is that we need to keep it clean. If they fell on dirty surfaces. We might have sand, dirt, rocks, metal shavings, wood shavings to clean out. If this is embedded, that's a Med center call. Now they need to get in there and actually numb it, because it's very painful, it's not deep enough to actually damage most of the nerve endings and so, road rash actually hurts worse than most other bleeding types. And it's because it's just a braze through that epidermal layer, and the nerve endings are raw, and they're just over-stimulated. So, we need to be aware of that while we're treating, um, that kind of road rash, that kind of capillary wound. But, the major thing to do is wash it with soap and water. Get most of the debris out. Now, we're going to cover it with a bandage. Again, direct pressure for a little bit, it's not going to hurt that bad. Again, it's not actively bleeding. So once we actually dab it off and control most of the bleeding, we're able to now, use an over-the-counter triple antibiotic. Apply the triple antibiotic on to the wound after it's clean. This is going to help us defeat any secondary infection that this part of the raw wound may have been exposed to. We're then going to get another four-by-four bandage, with some tape. We're going to cover the wound. Can you hold that for me, sir? And then we're going to take that some of that medical grade tape, and we're going to run a couple strips over the bandage to hold it in place. And as this begins to heal, and the bleeding is controlled, give it maybe day or so. This is going to be probably a large band aid. A large band aid can cover this and they can return to normal activities. We encourage the patient to look for signs of infection, oozing, it's hurting, it's turning red around it, and becoming puffy in sort, and actually maybe draining some puss. That needs to be seen at the Med center or the ER. We don't want this to get so bad that they develop a serious infection that could actually get absorbed into the blood, cause a blood stream infection, which we call "Septicemia". We also don't want to take for granted that it could just be an infection that could've been prevented because we didn't wash it wall or put a triple antibiotic on it. After we do this, give it 48 to 72 hours, it will begin to crust over, which is the scabbing, and that's natural. The person should return normal in a couple of weeks, when the scab falls off, and now it's back to healing scar tissue. Again, capillary bleeding is not necessarily a life threatening emergency, but the infections that could follow from not taking car of it while it's healing, is where we run into trouble.
While you're probably familiar with veins and arteries, capillaries may warrant a quick definition. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels linking arteries and veins that transfer oxygen and other nutrients from the blood to all body cells and remove waste products.
Capillary bleeding has the classic appearance of a road rash type of wound. Anyone who has fallen off a bike or while playing sports likely has some experience with this type of bleeding injury.
Capillary bleeding distinctions are:
Serous fluid is a yellowish liquid that is made up of proteins and water. It's the same fluid that fills a burn blister and is the body's attempt to heal the wound.
Capillary bleeding is usually not a concern in healthy people. The blood vessels are quite small, and the pressure is minimal. Some things to keep in mind with capillary bleeding are:
As always, the first thing you should do is make sure the scene is safe. After that, proceed with the following steps.
Pro Tip 1: When cleaning off debris from the wound, if you notice that those things are embedded into the wound, the victim will need to make a trip to the ER, where the medical staff will probably need to numb the area before removing the debris. The nerve endings could be quite raw, and it's important to keep in mind that the victim may be in a good deal of pain.
Once the wound is cleaned and the antibiotic has been applied, put a fresh dressing pad over the area. Make sure it's large enough to cover the wound completely with room to spare on all sides.
Using medical grade tape, if you have it, hold the dressing pad in place with a couple strips of tape or however much is needed. Let the victim know that he or she can replace the pad with a large band aid after a day or two.
Pro Tip 2: It's important to help the victim understand what the signs of infection are, as this is likely to be the biggest threat with capillary bleeding wounds. Signs of infection include:
Warning: Capillary bleeding is usually not a life-threatening injury, but infections could be. If the victim notices any of the above, it's important that he or she go to the ER or their doctor to avoid the chance of serious infection. However, keeping the wound area clean is often enough to avoid this complication.
Also let the victim know what a healthy outcome of capillary bleeding looks like:
While capillary bleeding is often very easy to control, it's important to understand the concept of the Golden Hour – the critical first hour after a traumatic bleeding injury has occurred.
During the Golden Hour:
As all bleeding injuries occur from arteries, veins, and capillaries, it's important to understand what a life-threatening bleeding incident looks like.
If you experience any of these situations while providing care, be aware that these can be life-threatening, and you should call 911 immediately and get EMS involved.
Capillary bleeding is often the least severe type of bleeding injury, but don't get lulled into a false sense of security. Any bleeding situation can become serious. And it deserves repeating that with capillary bleeding, it's especially important to clean the wound well to reduce the chances of infection.