It wouldn’t let me edit my other post since it has been 5 min, but I also wanted to add what would the body do to expel it if we leave it on for a week or so?
You might get a lot of puss around it, as your white cells try to digest the foreign object.
OP, I would think a person, over the course of their lives, would sustain many insignificant wounds like the nicked ear in the linked pic. Have you not also dealt with many similar wounds yourself?
What do you mean by “heal around and over it”?
It’s not clear from your description what you did with the steri-strip. But if it’s sitting in the “bowl” of missing skin, the healing skin might initially grow into it or around or even over it. Those would all be unpleasant.
If you’ve used it to try to tape the removed flap of skin in place, that probably won’t happen, because the bandage isn’t touching the healing surface. A completely detached flap (with no blood supply) will likely die and fall off, though, even if you tape it into place.
Summary: Take off the steri-strip, cover it with antibiotic ointment and a Band-Aid if he’s embarrassed about it, and it should heal just fine.
So a little update, we removed the steri-strip sunday night, it stuck to the wound but with some soaking with a wet washcloth we got it off, and put a band aid on it. It had closed up to about half the size, and currently is still about that size, maybe a tiny bit smaller. Here is a current picture from today Imgur: The magic of the Internet last night we noticed there seemed to be a little swelling on the area above the wound compared to the other side. Here is the bad ear swelling Imgur: The magic of the Internet compared to the good ear Imgur: The magic of the Internet I am wondering will that swelling go away on it’s own or does it have to be drained so it does not harden and cause a cauliflower ear?
It looks fine to me. IANAD but a Mom and I have seen many boo-boos. This will heal okay. I don’t see any swelling, btw.
It won’t let me edit my post but I realized I posted the same picture for the good and bad ear, swelling, they were both the good ear. Here is the bad ear swelling Imgur: The magic of the Internet and here is the good ear Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Sorry I posted the same pic, for the good and bad ear, here is the bad ear swelling Imgur: The magic of the Internet compared to the good ear Imgur: The magic of the Internet
IANAD, either, but I can think of at least 3 times in my life that I didn’t use an emergency room for a relatively minor injury, and later regretted it. Unless the $100+ fee is prohibitive, I’d advise you to take advantage of one, if available. Later is too late.
We’re 5 days into this injury. I don’t think an ER visit is necessary. I don’t even think a doctor visit would’ve been necessary on the first day. It looks, to me to be a minor cut. YMMV.
At this point I think the only thing to be concerned about is the risk of infection. If something you think should be getting smaller, dryer or cooler starts getting bigger, wetter or hotter, than you should have someone check it out.
It doesn’t look like he needs a doctor, but he definitely needs a new barber!
I think the cut will heal fine, I just want to be sure that bit of swelling above the wound will not harden into a cauliflower ear, if any doctors or wrestlers are familiar with this. Cauliflower ear - Wikipedia I know the spot where you get cauliflower ear is usually more central and not so much on the edge, but if you have swelling on the edge can it harden into a cauliflower ear?
Your boyfriend looks like he’s healing just fine, and that cut will be gone, as will the bruising, in a few days.
These days I think it’s typically more like $1200, plus hours of time waiting around to be seen. And an appointment with an urgent care doctor, or a nurse practitioner, should be plenty if the op is really worried. (They would be able to direct the guy to more care if it’s warranted.) I haven’t looked at the updated photos, yet, but unless there’s a serious infection (does he have a fever?) I’m certain it’s overkill to go to an emergency room for a five day old minor surface wound.
Having now looked at the image, I agree with sjankis