A laceration can be anything between a paper cut and a mishap with an ax. No matter how severe your wound, you are probably going to want to heal as quickly as possible and put your injury behind you. Most of the healing process with a laceration is just to let nature take its course. But there are several things you can do to give nature a hand, like getting plenty of rest, keeping your wound clean, and eating certain foods.
A Quick Healing Checklist
There are many simple things that can help you to heal from a laceration as quickly as possible. Most of these tips are good advice for pretty much any other sort of injury as well. Some things you can do to speed your healing along are to:
- Clean your wound regularly
- Sleep well
- Exercise
- Don’t overexert
- Eat nutritious foods
- Not smoke
Clean Your Wound Regularly
One of the greatest risks to the healing process is infection. It’s essential to keep your wound clean in order to avoid letting the area become a victim of bad bacteria. Ways to do this include changing your bandages regularly and using antiseptic alcohol on the affected area. Skin wounds heal best when they are slightly moist, but, unfortunately, that is also the environment in which bacteria thrive, so stay vigilant.
Sleep Well
Your brain and body both function at peak efficiency when they get proper rest. Your immune system works best when you are sleeping. It doesn’t have to compete with nearly as many of your other body systems for the resources it needs to help repair your body. Getting a good night’s sleep will help get you back to full health in quick order.
Exercise
While getting enough rest is important, too much can have a negative effect and slow the healing process back down. Getting out of bed and exercising helps with blood flow, which leads to quicker healing. So, get a good night’s sleep and then wake up and get moving.
Don’t Overexert
Swinging the pendulum back the other way, while you want to exercise, you don’t want to overdo it. Overexertion can make matters worse. A laceration that has begun to heal, with the skin sewing itself back together, can be ripped back open if you work that part of the body too hard.
Be mindful of the type of exercise you perform. If your laceration is along your bicep, then you should probably steer clear of pushups for a while and instead turn your attention towards another activity like running.
Eat Nutritious Foods
Foods heavy in sugar and nitrates can slow the healing process as your digestive system works overtime trying to process them. Foods rich in vitamins A & C, potassium, and zinc, on the other hand, give the immune system a real boost. Healthy eating is essential to the healing process.
Not Smoke
This is a good general suggestion for life. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, so it should come as no surprise that smoking has a negative effect on your body’s ability to heal from a laceration. Smoking limits blood flow, which makes it difficult for the wound to get the tools it needs to heal. At the same time, smoking also negatively impacts the immune system, opening the door for infection.
Getting Compensation for a Laceration
Most people probably aren’t going to be seeking compensation for a paper cut or other similarly small laceration. However, larger lacerations can be coupled with significant medical expenses. In these cases, if someone else was at fault for your injury, you will almost certainly be seeking damages.
How you go about pursuing compensation will depend on the circumstances in which you were injured. If your injury came while working, you will be looking at filing a workers’ comp claim. For damages obtained from a car accident where the other driver was at fault, you will likely be pursuing a settlement with their insurance company. If you were hurt as the result of an assault, you will most likely be suing your assailant directly.
There are many other possibilities as well. These include a product liability lawsuit for harm done by a defective item or a premises liability suit for a laceration that resulted from a slip and fall accident. The list goes on and on.
Whatever the cause for your injury, the important thing is getting the compensation that you deserve in order to cover medical costs and give yourself the ability to heal without worrying about trying to return to work prematurely because of concerns about money. Over exerting could end up leading to aggravating your injury and putting you right back in the hospital with even more medical bills that you can’t afford.
Determining what type of lawsuit or insurance claim to file is a crucial first step in the process towards compensation. But depending on how you suffered your injury, it can be tricky to decide on which route is best to take when there are multiple options open to you. Speaking with a qualified attorney can help you to sort through all of the clutter and decide on a path that works best for you and your situation.
Should I Hire an Attorney?
Anytime you are pursuing compensation for an accident, hiring a competent attorney with experience in similar cases is a good idea. 80 percent of people who work with a laceration injury attorney get a significantly higher settlement than what the insurance company was planning to payout.
Severe laceration injuries can be very costly, and all of the costs usually aren’t immediately evident. You need to make sure that whatever settlement you get is enough to cover all your expenses. Trying to deal with an insurance company on your own or representing yourself in court are bad ideas that will likely leave you in a financial bind.
Do yourself and your loved ones a favor and hire a laceration injury attorney to represent your interests.
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