Laceration repair

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Indications

Skin or mucosal laceration.

Contraindications

  • Body laceration >12 hours old
  • Face/scalp wounds >24 hours old

Management

Wound Preparation

  • Debridement is most important step in reducing infection/ promoting healing
  • Avoid betadine/chlorhexadine in wound
  • Not necessary to remove hair (if do, avoid using razor)

Irrigation

  • High pressure irrigation is best (can be achieved with 18 gauge syringe)
  • Tap water is as effective as sterile water/ normal saline[1][2][3]
    • Pressure from tap is ~45 psi, higher than syringe[4]
  • Irrigation optional for face/scalp wound as long as:
    • Not a bite wound
    • Not a contaminated wound
    • Not older than 6 hours

Anesthesia

  • Can be topical or injected.
  • Topical
    • LET for open wound, EMLA for intact skin
  • Evaluate motor/sensation before giving local anesthesia
  • To decrease pain of injection:
    • Buffer lidocaine with bicarbonate (1mL bicarb:9mL lidocaine)
    • Inject slowly

Maximum Doses of Anesthetic Agents

Agent Without Epinephrine With Epinephrine Duration Notes
Lidocaine 5 mg/kg (max 300mg) 7 mg/kg (max 500mg) 30-90 min
  • 1% soln contains 10 mg/ml
  • 2% soln contains 20 mg/ml
Mepivicaine 7 mg/kg 8 mg/kg
Bupivicaine 2.5 mg/kg (max 175mg) 3 mg/kg (max 225mg) 6-8 hr
  • 0.5% soln contains 5 mg/ml
  • May cause cardiac arrest if injected intravascularly
  • Do not buffer with bicarbonate
Ropivacaine 3 mg/kg
Prilocaine 6 mg/kg
Tetracaine 1 mg/kg 1.5 mg/kg 3hrs (10hrs with epi)
Procaine 7 mg/kg 10 mg/kg 30min (90min with epi)

Exploration

  • See Soft tissue foreign body
  • Explore to base of wound
  • Ideally done in bloodless field
  • Look for foreign bodies, tendon injury, or fracture
  • Possible glass in wound = get XR or US to evaluate

Suturing

  • If laceration not closed immediately secondary to age of wound:
    • Irrigate and explore wound, then pack with non-adherent or vaseline gauze
    • Re-check in 3 days - may suture at that point if wound appears clean.

Aftercare

  • Consider antibiotics for
    • Wounds contaminated by debris or feces
    • Caused by punctures or bites
    • Tissue destruction or in avascular areas
    • Neglected wounds

Wounds contaminated by fresh water and plantar puncture wounds through athletic shoes should include Pseudomonas coverage

  • Splinting
    • Wounds over flexor surfaces or tension
  • Tetanus
    • Tdap 0.5cc IM to patients >7y with no booster within 5 yr
    • Hypertet 250 u IM at diff site from Tdap if NO history of Td or < 3 doses given
      • Require follow up Tdap at 1mo & 1 yr; age>60 = high risk of poor immunization
  • Dressing
    • Keep moist, not wet
      • Bandaid, xeroform, or ointment
  • Wound check
    • 48-72 hrs ONLY if high risk wound
      • No point in checking before 48hr (takes this long for infection to occur)

Billing

  • Anatomical location of wound
  • Size of wound
    • Length (cm) <2.5, 2.6-5.0, 5.1-7.5, 7.6-12.5, 12.5-20.0, 20.1-30.0, >30.0
  • Complexity
    • Simple, intermediate, or complex (depends on debridement, layers, complex stitch, drain, etc.)
  • Type and number of sutures

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Moscati RM, Mayrose J, Reardon RF, Janicke DM, Jehle DV. A multicenter comparison of tap water versus sterile saline for wound irrigation. Acad Emerg Med. 2007 May;14(5):404-9
  2. ↑ Weiss EA, Oldham G, Lin M, Foster T, Quinn JV. Water is a safe and effective alternative to sterile normal saline for wound irrigation prior to suturing: a prospective, double-blind, randomised, controlled clinical trial. BMJ Open. 2013 Jan 16;3(1).
  3. ↑ Fernandez R, Griffiths R. Water for wound cleansing. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Feb 15;(2):CD003861.
  4. ↑ Moscati RM, Reardon RF, Lerner EB, Mayrose J. Wound irrigation with tap water. Acad Emerg Med. 1998 Nov;5(11):1076-80.
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