Article: You need to inspect the wound once it stops bleeding. Get to the cleanest, safest area that you can. You don't want to risk infection from environmental contaminants. Examine the wound to figure out how deep it is. If it is less than 1cm, you do not need to seek outside medical help and you can continue to clean the wound on your own.  If it looks deeper than 1cm, you will need stitches, even if the blood stopped flowing. Reapply the pressure dressing and seek medical attention as soon as possible. If you have a large area of abrasion, which is greater than 12 cm by 12 cm, with a significant amount of particulate matter, seek medical attention as well so the area can be appropriately cleansed. That much debris will cause infection if not removed. This can be done by a doctor under local anesthesia.   If the wound is dirty or caused by something rusty and it has been more than 10 years since your last tetanus shot, you will need a tetanus shot right away. Wounds can be misleading. Small wounds, such as puncture wounds, may seem small but they can be quite deep and are often full of bacteria. They also often become infected. This is particularly true of animal or human bites, so always seek medical attention for this kind of wound. Bacteria that live in the mouths of humans, cats, dogs, and other animals contain pasteurella and other virulent bacteria that can lead you from a small bite to the operating room within 24 hours.  This is also true of fight bites, which are incurred during a fist fight. When one individual hits another in the mouth and gets accidentally bitten by the others teeth, the wounds are also particularly prone to infection. A bite may need to be treated with prescription antibiotics to prevent infection. Make sure you go to the doctor or emergency room to deal with bites. If your wound does not need medical care, you can take care of it at home. Rinse the wound with warm water to remove the excess blood.  This may disrupt clotted blood and the wound may ooze or begin bleeding again. This is normal and shows that there is no significant vascular damage to contend with and the bleeding will stop again after cleansing. Once you rinse your wound of the initial blood, you can clean the wound. First, wash your hands with soap and hot water. This will help prevent contamination of the wound and help stop infection. Next, soak a gauze or clean cloth in a providone-Iodine solution such as Betadine. This will kill any bacteria that you will have encountered when your skin broke. Once you clean the wound with the solution, pat it dry with sterile gauze or a clean cloth.  If irrigation of the wound did not get out all of the debris in the wound, such as twigs, thorns, or pebbles, use tweezers to very carefully pull out the remaining debris. Do not probe the wound because you could injure yourself further. If you don't have any providone-Iodine solution, you can use any antiseptic wash that is used on open wounds. If you don't have any solution at all, you can rinse the wound out for an additional amount of time to ensure it is cleaned as well as possible. Once your wound has been adequately rinsed and cleaned, you need to bandage it to keep it protected. First, apply antibacterial ointment such as Neosporin to the wound with gauze, a cotton ball, or a Q-tip. Next, if your wound is small and superficial, use a band-aid to cover the wound. If it is larger, grab a fresh set of gauze and medical tape from your first aid kit. Place the gauze over the wound and secure the edges of the bandage with tape. This will keep debris out.  If you do not have gauze and medical tape, you need to purchase wound supplies at the drug store or pharmacy. The wound needs to be bandaged properly with sterile supplies in order to prevent infection. If the wound is over a flexible joint, buy rolled gauze to make it more easily managed and the bandage more secure. After your initial dressing, perform the cleansing and dressing ritual daily. When you are cleaning the wound, you need to look for signs of infection. These include redness at the wound edges, especially if the wound area expands from one day to the next, drainage or pus on the wound, and a fever. As long as no signs of infection present themselves, your wound should heal within a two to three week time frame. Lower extremity wounds or wounds on those who are obese  may take on the longer to heal.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Inspect the wound. Be wary of puncture wounds and animal bites. Rinse the wound again. Clean the wound. Bandage the wound. Look for signs of infection.