# Healing of a wound in a toddler



## BettySpaghetti

Hi!

This site has been so helpful to me in the past and I have returned to it now, just for some peace of mind really.

I have 4 children 3 and under and one of my 3 year olds had an accident a couple of weeks ago, where she fell of the sofa and hit her face on the top of a cupboard handle (one of the long thin rounded ones) and it left a kind of round punture hole on her face, in front of her ear.  This is the first accident of this kind and I wasn't sure what to expect. The wound was probably slightly less than a cm across, so not huge at all but reasonably deep, however, when she went in to have it treated the nurse said it was awkward as the edges wouldn't stay together just with steri-strips, due to the shape and size of the wound. In the end she glued it twice and put steri strips across to try and keep the edges together.  We were advised to keep the dressing on for 5 days and then take dressing off and see how it was, then let her have a bath and the glue etc should wash away.

We took the dressing off, then took the steri strips off in the bath 6 days later and what was left was a kind of crusty scab, which we put down to being mixture of glue and healing scab... we left that for another week or so and she's obviously had baths in that time, but still this wasn't going  ... finally today after her bath we felt we shold have a little touch of the "scab" to see if it would come off ... we haven't touched it at all until today!!  This did come off quite easily, but I was really upset at what was underneath, as it was still quite red and there was a kind of indentation and almost like a extra little "nick" next to the scar   . It appears that maybe the edges didn't knit back together well enough  ..    
As I've never had experience of wounds / gluing etc yet .. was I right with what I did with leaving it then removing the "scab" from the top ... and is it usual for the scar to still look a little red and unhealed (doesn't look infected at all) when the scabbing and glue first come off. 

She's my perfect little girl and now she has a scar that is worse than I felt it should've been   the nurse said she should be left with a tiny little scar 

This will sound so unimportant to most people on here and I can understand why, as I have done my time of IVF and all that goes with ttc, but she had this accident in my care and I was so hoping the scar was unnoticeable  

Thank you so much XX


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## nichub

Hi Betty, fortunately most of my experience as a nurse has been in burns and plastic surgery so I know more about wound healing than anything else, first of all you have done everything right with a new scar they will always look quite red and angry at first this is because scar tissue continues to be active for up to 2 yrs, what I would advise is get yourself some diprobase or some sort of moisturiser and wash the are gently then massage the area using your thumb in circular motions for about ten mins 3 times a day, initially do this quite gently for the first week or so then build up the pressure in the second week, this will encourage the scar to flatten and for the redness to fade, which it will do but may just take some time

If I can help any further let me know

Nic
Xx


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## BettySpaghetti

Hi Nic,

Thanks so much for your advice!!  just a quick question - would bio oil be ok to do this with? i have quite a lot of this left over.

Sorry to ask another question   

For at least a year my 3.5 year old boy has had this red mark on the end of his nose - kind of like a cross between a little spot and a broken capillary.  We have just kind of ignored it, figuring it would just disappear, but never has... 
Today he fell off a swing and must have kind of scraped his nose on the floor and the next thing we know there is blood quite literally everywhere!! hubby thought he'd knocked his tooth out.  Each time we took the tissues away the place where this spot is/was was literally pumping out a little spout of blood. 

My husband took him to the pharmacy (it had stopped pumping by the time he'd got from the park to the gp  - who was too busy to see him!   ) and she asked about the thing on the end of his nose, how long he'd had it and then said she would strongly suggest we take him to see the doc.. this has obviously got us anxious   Would you have any idea what this could be? i have made an appt for mon morning, but it's going to seem like a long wait. I have tried to find out info myself on the web, but can't seem to find anything that seems to fit.

Thanks so much, 
Bettyspaghetti XX


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## nichub

Betty this sounds like A haemangioma, which is just a birth mark that's quite vascular- (so has blood vessels), I could be wrong because it's difficult for me say without being able to see it but don't panic and if it happens again press some tissue onto it with a bit of pressure until it stops bleeding, it sounds very small if it looks just like a broken capillary.

With regards to the bio oil that's fine to use instead of a moisturiser, it isn't the actual bio oil that does anything though in my opinion it's a false economy, it's the massage and the moisturising of the scar tissue 

Let me know if I can help any further

Nic
Xx


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## BettySpaghetti

Thanks so much Nic!

Ah I was only planning on using the bio oil only as i have it left from pregnancy but don't use it any more 

Thanks for the advice re: my little boy.  I looked up haemangioma and it said this usually happens within the first few months (my daughter had one on her back that came up around 6 months old, that has almost gone now - they're twins and now 3.5!) but this one on my son only appeared when he was perhaps 2 years old. 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says - these children!! you think the worrying, stress laden part is trying for these little monkeys.. when really it's bringing them up!! the worrying and stress never ends! lol 

Appreciate all the help you've given me.. 

Bettyspaghetti x


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## nichub

Betty, I dont think for a minute the hard part is trying ( although on a selfish note the stress for now is bloody awful!) I think it's definitely the part that I see in work everyday!! The bio oil will be fine to use as a lotion for massage! If you have any further questions I'll be happy to answer them xx


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