Is my knee infected?

I'm assuming it is gooey because you've been keeping it bandaged. Try leaving it open for the scab to dry out and form its protective barrier. If you need to keep it covered at school, use an antibiotic ointment like neosporin and then leave it uncovered while you are at home.

Based on the pictures, I would say that it is not infected. If it were infected, the area around the wound would be red and puffy and could be hot to the touch and painful.

bedheadred wrote:I'm assuming it is gooey because you've been keeping it bandaged. Try leaving it open for the scab to dry out and form its protective barrier. If you need to keep it covered at school, use an antibiotic ointment like neosporin and then leave it uncovered while you are at home.

Based on the pictures, I would say that it is not infected. If it were infected, the area around the wound would be red and puffy and could be hot to the touch and painful.

Yeah, I have been keeping it bandaged. Just took it off though. And it scrap does sting but besides when I bend it too much it doesn't really hurt beyond some stinging. I'm assuming/hoping that's normal. Anyway, thanks for the answer, I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

haha, your fine, a wound that large will look like that

but, what is it your worried about? the glossy, wet looking part, or just the brown part, both look perfectly fine, but will probally leave a scar, i lost a HUGE chuck of skin on my shoulder (and face) in a bike accident a few years ago, its a nice pale white scar now (face healed fine), but it looked just like that, just be sure to let it breath when your at home and if you have to wear clothing put a bandaid/gauze pad on it to keep junk from sticking to it as its kind of in this middle ground between a blister and a scab

it cant form a full blister (with skin on top) becasue its to big so its just secreting the fluid that is inside a blister which is a healing fluid. it also cant form a scab to fast becasue the area is again, large, and not very deep, as a scab usually has alot of help forming from hardened blood. in time it will form a full scab. it looks wierd becasue its probally your 2nd or 3rd, maybe even 4th layer of skin, so it looks raw, AND its bruising

im no doctor, if it doesnt seem like its starting to harden you might want to look at it further, but it will take a few days.

your skin is your first and best defence agasint infection and it looks like your skin is still intact, to an extent. you shouldnt worry to much about an infection, just be sure to keep it clean so it can heal quickly. and again, wear shorts when you can so it can breath. if your doing anything that might involve it getting touched or nasty particles (like a dusty field) then wear something over it, like a bandaid, but dont let things rub it like pants

lol just dubs the best place form accurate medical information on the net.

from my limited medical experience (ie. getting hurt a lot) i am in complete agreement with Red and Joe

man i love this community sometimes XD

Hatless wrote:lol just dubs the best place form accurate medical information on the net.

from my limited medical experience (ie. getting hurt a lot) i am in complete agreement with Red and Joe

man i love this community sometimes XD

Hey my diagnosis is based on a BSN and tested Mommy Experience

@Sanji: Your fine from what I can tell but I would do as Red said and leave it unbandaged to get some air and make sure to doctor it with Neosporin and it helps to also doctor it with peroxide. Though it does need to have air too so make sure you don't constantly have it covered with something including the Neosporin. It may take a while to heal but I don't think it's anything to worry about. Trust me I've seen a scrape exactly like that one and it just needed air and nothing was wrong. As for the stinging, that's just cuss the air is hitting it and your bending the skin, perfectly normal.

It doesn't look infected. But yeah, do like Red said. Disinfect it and leave it unbandaged for awhile. It will get some air and start to scab.

Thank everyone! I feel a bit foolish for seriously thinking something was wrong nwo but I don't think I've been happier to feel that.

Oh, it's understandable to have concern. Its hard to diagnose yourself sometimes because you might overthink it. Better safe than sorry though.

DemonEyesJoe wrote:

Hey, we may not all be medical professionals, but suffering a severe injury does teach you a thing or two. Besides, doctors don't always get it right either, well unless they are House of course. lol

Sanji, I'll jump in with the others - your knee looks fine so far, just in the early stages of the healing process and keeping it covered did slow that down some. But pay attention to what Raid said in her first post tho, and always observe not just the wound itself, but also the area surrounding it - if at any point in time it gets red, swells up, and you get a hot burning feeling without applying any pressure to it, then you wanna go see a professional. Tho in my experience this would have already happened by now (assuming injury is a few days old?) especially if you didn't disinfect it well in the beginning and/or didn't use any antibiotic ointment before bandaging it, so you're on your merry way to recovery already, and Red's word of warning is more for future reference.

DemonEyesJoe wrote:

BSN=Bachelor's of Science in nursing=is a nurse
So it's "Trust me, I'm a nurse" on Red's account. I mean really, she's about the best source on here on this thread.

I disagree Shogun!

Pour vinegar and baking soda on the wound, I hear it makes a great miracle cure! Or maybe that was drain cleaner... hard to say.

salt and mercury are good for all open wounds

Ah, you guys ain't doing it right at all - just burn it all off and be done with it for good, an oxy-acetylene torch adjusted for white color flame is excellent for that!

Working as a CNA I've seen plenty of skin tears and your scrap isn't infected.

Uh guys, problems been solved...

Natsuru-san wrote:Uh guys, problems been solved...

thats what they say, until an alien pops out, or he stuck with guard dooty the rest of his life

I had photos at the doctors when I cut myself with knife my first week working as a sous chef. After we got it to stop bleeding, you could see the bone of my index finger. I fillet the skin off on the outside at the middle joint.what was funny was the knife was so sharp, there was no tear, so the pain I was feeling at first wasn't much more than a minor cut, but after the bone had been exposed for a minute, I was in agony.

Uh you might wanna spoiler something graphic and warn people before they read it. Hope your finger is alright. Anyway I think I know the reason why you didn't feel much pain though other than the air hitting the bone I can't explain it other than a delayed reaction.

you bone feels no pain really, its the nerves in between that do, once exposing your nerves to the impurities in the air, its probably what caused you to finally feel pain