What do I do when someone cuts a blood vessel in their thumb>?

Question

My brother was working on his truck and sliced his finger with a knife went to the e.r and they stitched him up and put in 6 stitches...and they also told him he cut a blood vessel in his thumb it was NOT swollen at first now its swolleing up really bad..what should we do? helpp A-S-A-P

Answer 1

Go back to the ER.

Answer 2

Ice and hold it higher than their heart.

It IS going to swell. You can't stop that, but some Tylenol might relieve some of the pressure and pain.

Answer 3

It's going to hurt like an sob for a couple of days and swell up. Keep it clean, dry and bandaged. It will heal if he doesn't mess with it too much. Do check for infection. Look for excessive redness and heat, but do not get too alarmed at every little ache. Lots of nerves in the thumb, so it will hurt. They should have given him antibiotics as well to halt infection. Make sure he takes ALL the pills as prescribed.

Answer 4

It is probably swollen at present because of the trauma to the area that was cut. There is extra blood supply to the finger because the body is taking extra blood to the site to help it heal the damaged area.

He can do his bit towards helping it heal by keeping it rested for a while and elevated slightly like lay down with it up on a raised surface such as a pillow and use some ice but wrap it up in a hand towel or similar so that it is not directly in contact with his wound. Its ok for him to take some paracetamol for pain relief but would stay off the aspirin and other pain relief with other blood thinning ingredients  

Answer 5

he should ice it and keep it elevated ABOVE his heart.  Don't have him do anything that will make his bp or hr high because that will only exacerbate the situation.  Tylenol will help with the pain but not the swelling, do not let him take iboprophen, aspirin, Excedrin, or any other anti inflammatory because that will make it harder for his blot to clot so it will bleed.

Answer 6

Go to the E.R it could rupture.  If it does he could bleed to death.  Hurry.