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Cuts and infection
Cleaning a knife or axe cut properly in the field, closing and covering it, and knowing the signs that it has gone bad.
What you need
- Clean water, lots of it, boiled or treated if it came from a brook
- Gloves if you have them
- Wound closure strips or tape
- Gauze pads and a roll bandage
- Plasters for small cuts
- Tweezers for splinters and dirt
How
- Stop the bleeding first. Firm pressure with a clean pad for a good ten minutes. If it will not stop, see Stopping bad bleeding.
- Wash your hands, or put on gloves.
- Flush the cut with plenty of clean water. Pour it in a steady stream, a litre or more for a dirty cut. This is the step that stops infection.
- Pick out any dirt, wood or grit you can see with clean tweezers.
- For a small, clean, straight cut, pull the edges together with closure strips across it, a little gap between each.
- Cover it with a clean pad and bandage it.
- Look at it and change the dressing every day, or sooner if it gets wet or dirty.
Do and don't
Do
- Keep your tetanus shot up to date before any trip. It needs a booster every ten years.
- Keep the cut clean and dry, and keep it covered.
- Head out and get it seen if it is deep, gaping, on the face, on a joint, or on the hand and you cannot move the fingers right.
Don't
- Do not close up a dirty cut, a deep puncture or an animal bite. Flush it well, cover it loosely, and get it seen.
- Do not pour straight alcohol or peroxide deep into a wound. Clean water does the job.
- Do not ignore a small cut on a long trip. Small cuts go bad too.
Watch for
Danger
- Signs of infection: redness that spreads, heat, swelling that gets worse, pus, a bad smell, or pain that grows after the second day. Head out and see a doctor.
- A red streak running up the arm or leg from the cut, a fever or chills means the infection is spreading. That is urgent. Get help now.
- Numbness or a finger or toe that will not move after a cut can mean a cut nerve or tendon. Get it seen the same day.
Notes
Most cuts in camp come from a knife, an axe or a saw, and most of them are small. It is the washing that matters. A clean cut heals on its own. A dirty one closed up tight is the one that goes bad.
For advice, call 811 for a nurse any time of day.
Updated 2026-09-27
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