Why Parents Should Be Careful of Their Children’s Wounds
Can you stop your curious and active child? If so, this information might not be helpful for you. However, almost all children have experiences of cuts, scrapes, bleeding on anywhere on their body. Children’s skin is in its infancy, it has excellent regenerative but the skin appendages such as pores, sebaceous glans, and sweat glands which play an important role in skin regeneration, are less mature. As the reason, the wounds of children are more likely to remain as scars. If there are scars in the exposed area, they can be teased and hurt, and this can affect the formation of personality or the establishment of self-identity during their growth period. This is the reason parents should be careful not to leave scars on their children’s wounds.
What Are Scars?
Scars are the result of skin injury from accidents, surgeries, or recovery from skin disease. When a person’s skin is damaged, a reaction begins to heal the wound which results in scarring. It is the result of a normal wound healing process. In general, scars caused by wounds get better as time goes by, but the greater the degree of damage to the skin, the longer it takes to heal and the greater the chance that a large scar will remain. Excessive proliferation of fibrous tissue during the healing process can lead to keloid or hypertrophic scars.
How to Deal with Each Type of Wound to Prevent Scarring
The severity of the scar depends on how you deal with it in the early stages of the wound. Depending on the type of wound, the probability of scarring can be reduced only when properly dealt with.
- Small Cuts and Scrapes
1. Stop bleeding: Apply direct pressure with clean gauze or cloth over the site for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Once bleeding stops: Wash the wound with running water
3. After cleansing: Apply a disinfectant and antibacterial ointment to keep the wound moist
4. Cover the wound: Apply an airtight dressing to heal quickly but it should be an open dressing using gauze if there is room for bacteria to enter and multiply, such as bitten by a dog
- Cuts on the nails
If it is not severe, it is common to return to its original state after a few months, but if the wound is deep, it is easy to leave a scar without naturally disappearing. It is better to see a doctor in early stage. It is recommended to apply sunscreen because cuts can change the color of the skin with UV rays.
- Small Stab
If your child is stabbed by a piece of glass, you must remove the pieces from the wound first. However, if the wound is contaminated or stabbed by rusty awls or nails, it is desirable to see a doctor quickly no matter how small the wound is, it can cause tetanus.
How Important of Preventive Scar Treatment for Children
Any scar can grow bigger with children’s growth and if there are severe scars or hypertrophic scars are present in joint areas such as fingers, joint movement may be restricted. For young children, scars located in the exposed areas may cause them to be teased and heartbroken.
It is very important for a healthy life of a child to perform scar prevention treatment immediately after wound healing. There are various lasers can be used for early-stage treatment depending on the type of wounds. If your child gets suturing and the blood vessel is at an abnormal stage, hypertrophic scarring and keloid formation can be suppressed using a vascular laser. If your child already has any kind of scar, it can be treated with various methods such as surgery, laser dermabrasion, fractional laser treatment etc. If you suspect children’s any scars, you may refer to a doctor to see if treatment is needed.
