Hand Infections In Orland Park, IL
It’s common to deal with infections, especially in your hands. A hand infection can happen at any age and there are many causes of infections. It’s important that you get the treatment necessary before complications occur and more severe treatment is needed. With certain types of infections or if an infection has gone untreated for too long, you might need the assistance of your local hand surgeon to treat your infection and help you get back to better health.
Treating Hand Infections with a Hand Surgeon
Hand infections can occur for many different reasons and it’s important to monitor wounds to avoid complications from occurring. One common example of a hand infection is through a bite wound. Often, if you’ve been bitten by an animal or even another person, you may need surgical drainage of the wound site. This can help clear up the infection and stop the infection from spreading. If a bite wound is small, your surgeon may need to increase the opening to get proper cleaning. Stitches may also be needed to close up the wound and prevent further infection.
For most types of hand infections, your surgeon may need to open up the wound to drain out fluids that may have built up and could cause more severe infection. Surgery may also be necessary depending on the area of the wound or infection. There are compartments throughout your hand that can become infected from even the smallest puncture wound and will need to be drained in order to prevent the infection from spreading to the wrists or forearms.
Your hand surgeon can also help treat necrotizing fasciitis, which is also known as flesh-eating bacteria. While this is rare, it’s severe and needs to be treated with surgery. Your surgeon will remove the dead tissue to stop the spread of infection and if it’s not treated in time, it could lead to amputation.