Concept in Definition ABC

A wound it is an injury that can occur in any part of the body. These types of injuries are the result of trauma, blows, falls, accidents or even actions such as coming into contact with chemical or physical agents, such as strong acids or the fire respectively.

Wounds can be of various types, when they affect the skin they are known as open wounds, while when the injury affects deep tissues but there is no rupture of the skin surface, they are called closed woundsThey can also have a size that ranges from a few millimeters to several centimeters both in length and depth.

The severity of an injury is not necessarily related to its size

An extensive injury to a limb may not be as serious as a small injury to the groin, the severity is more related with events such as injuries to vital structures such as blood vessels or perforation of membranes such as the pleura and the peritoneum. These types of wounds are known as complicated wounds.

Wounds on blood vessel paths can be accompanied by injury to the artery or veins that pass through there, thus originating a hemorrhage, usually blood of arterial origin is recognized because it comes under pressure regularly in relation to the heartbeat and is bright red, the venous blood on the other hand it is mass dark and bleeding tends to be continuous rather than pulsatile.

Injuries to the chest can affect the membrane that lines the inner part of the ribs known as the pleura, when this occurs the lung causing respiratory distress, this is due to the fact that the thorax works with negative pressure and the opening of an orifice allows the entrance of air what makes normal expansion of the lung.

When the wound is at the level of the abdomen can perforate the peritoneum or even a hollow viscus, mainly the colon, which is the most superficial which leads to the development of a very serious condition such as peritonitis.

Types of wounds

There are several ways to classify wounds, according to the way they are produced, they can be of four main types:

Contused. Occur by a blow or direct trauma, in many cases blunt wounds are closed, there is no visible damage to the indemnity of the skin but in deep organs or structures, the most superficial ones produce bruises, the deeper ones can affect to bones, organs or even viscera, causing fractures, internal bleeding, rupture of organs or even detachment of the themselves.

Penetrating. They are due to the effect of an object on the skin, such as a knife, a piece of glass or fragments or parts of an object, generally causing extensive damage to the tissue. These types of injuries include burns, gunshot wounds, stab wounds and those that occur during car accidents or falls in which any object can penetrate the skin.

Sharp. In this case the wound is produced by a pointed object such as a nail, these wounds must be subjected to exploration Y observation Careful as it may be associated with significant internal injuries.

Photos: iStock - svetikd / Todor Tsvetkov