# When removing ruined meat from a infected fluid wound, why put the scraps on the patient's arm? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2017, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719 "2017-05-16T05:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/21 "2017-05-17T00:24:03Z")
The pus explosion starts at around 4:35 if anyone cares. I enjoy these at home surgery videos. I’ve seen some pretty bad abscess videos where they remove what almost appears to be a soccer ball worth of pus. However it was liquid with that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/22 "2017-05-17T01:23:07Z")
The technical term is packing strips, but every nurse I know refers to it as packing tape, so there’s that. To me, it looked like packing that had been left in for a while, as in the patient did not return to get it changed out and it had degraded. As for professional looking surroundings, all I can say is white tile and electric lights do not equal a hospital. I saw piles of laundry on the floor, the patient is lying on a home-type bed, and the “doctor” isn’t even wearing gloves. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/23 "2017-05-17T02:49:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > That video was referenced in a prior thread around here and the verdict of actual doctors was deplorable amateur technique. That wasn’t done by an actual surgeon. This. And I believe someone found a reference that it was a tattoo over a cyst with the infection in the cyst itself. Having had something like that, although not that extreme and not involving a tattoo, I buy it. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/24 "2017-05-17T03:08:46Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > The technical term is packing strips, but every nurse I know refers to it as packing tape, so there’s that. To me, it looked like packing that had been left in for a while, as in the patient did not return to get it changed out and it had degraded. > > As for professional looking surroundings, all I can say is white tile and electric lights do not equal a hospital. I saw piles of laundry on the floor, the patient is lying on a home-type bed, and the “doctor” isn’t even wearing gloves. I’ve always called it Iodoform or Iodoform gauze. Must be a regionalism. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/25 "2017-05-17T05:01:27Z")
Just watched the video. Poor guy. Ugh. Needs some antibiotics ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/26 "2017-05-17T10:13:26Z")
OK, so a couple of things here: [ul] [li]What’s pictured in this video is a cyst being expressed (squeezed)[/li][li]A cyst has a fibrous capsule filled with pus[/li][li]The ‘meat’ packing is the fibrous capsule being torn out in bits[/li][li]Proper technique is to pull the capsule in one big piece if at all possible, to be certain whether it’s all removed[/li][li]The pink ‘goop’ is mostly pus, colored with some red blood[/li][li]The brownish looking fluid coming out is pus[/li][li]A real doctor or nurse would use scissors and a hemostat, not a pair of… um… toeneail clippers, it appears?[/li][li]A real doctor or nurse would absoutely not do this with their bare hands, or leave the bits lying around on the patient’s skin.[/li][li]No, you’re not going to die from losing a few teaspoonsful of blood. Losing a pint is when it starts to be a big deal.[/li][/ul] If you watch a few cyst squeezing videos on YouTube, there are numerous samples of real dermatologists using gloves, proper equipment, and extracting the capsule in one or two large pieces, not 20 scraps. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/27 "2017-05-17T22:34:49Z")
There’s one DIY video out there where one of the bystanders observes that the expressed material looks like cottage cheese, and eats a chunk of it to find out if it tastes like it too, then runs to the bathroom retching. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719/28 "2017-05-17T23:44:24Z")
Have to say there is something oddly satisfying seeing the video [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-removing-ruined-meat-from-a-infected-fluid-wound-why-put-the-scraps-on-the-patients-arm/786719.md?page=1)