- Practice good oral hygiene and keep the traumatized area as clean as possible. Gargle with warm saline or alcohol-free mouthwash after every meal. Avoid brushing or touching the sutures in your mouth.
- Oral sutures in general do not need to be removed, but if after 10 days, knots are still present or foreign body sensation persists, please make an appointment with an oral surgeon for further management.
- Eat foods that are easy to swallow. Fluids or soft diet are suggested (e.g. juice, milk or porridge) Avoid hot food and food that may irritate your mouth, easily crumbled, hard to chew, or coarse textured, such as hot soup, popcorn, spicy, or salty food.
- Please call or return to the hospital as soon as possible if there are following symptoms：
- Signs of infection such as redness, uncontrolled swelling, discharge or pus, or increasing pain. Signs of more serious infection may include neck pain or stiffness, inability to open the mouth completely, drooling, or chest pain.
- Fever (temperature ≥100.4ºF/38ºC) or chills.
- Uncontrollable bleeding.
- Please return to our outpatient department for follow-up as scheduled.
Trauma
- Apply ice packs over the injured or inflamed area according to instructions.
- Always place a towel between the skin and ice pack to prevent ice pack burn.
- Press the ice pack firmly over the affected area for 20 minutes. Remove and rest for at least 20 minutes and repeat as needed or instructed.
- Rest. Minimize activity to prevent secondary injury.
- The pain is usually worst 2-3 days after the injury. Ice packing to the injured area for 20 minutes is suggested for next 24 to 48 hours to reduce pain and swelling.
- Keep the injured limb elevated. Wear comfortable well-fitting shoes. Do not wear high-heeled shoes. Avoid massaging or manipulating the injured site.
- Seek medical help if suffering intolerable pain or progressive swelling despite treatment.
- Bed rest as much as possible.
- Avoid bending over and carrying heavy things.
- Support injured area with both hands during activity to reduce pain.
- The pain is usually worst 2-3 days after the injury. Ice packing to the injured area on and off for 20 minutes may help reduce pain and swelling.
- Take medication as instructed and follow-up as scheduled.
- Please call or return to the hospital as soon as possible if there are following symptoms：
- Blood in the urine
- Back pain with cold sweating
- Lower limbs weakness or numbness
- Urinary or bowel incontinence
- Potential lung contusions may occur even if hemothorax, pnemothorax or ribs fractures have been excluded. Monitor breathing pattern closely.
- Notify our medical staff immediately if the patients presents with neck bruises, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, cold sweating, looking pale, cyanosis, severe chest pain or back pain.
- Rest. Avoid exertion.
- Take medicine as instructed after discharge and follow-up as scheduled.
- Please call or return to the hospital if there is coughing of blood, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or other severe discomforts. In the meantime, remain in a siting position and avoid eating or standing.
- The injured area will continue to swell for the next 72 hr. Consider ice packing the wound and elevating the injured limb to help decrease swelling.
- Keep the wound clean and dry. Minimize water contacting the wound for the first few days.
- Changing wound dressing：
- Apply normal saline from the center of the wound outwards in a circular motion to remove any buildups and discharge.
- Apply betadine to sterilize the wound in the same way, starting from the center working outwards in a circular motion. Let rest until the betadine has dried.
- Apply normal saline again in similar fashion to remove the betadine.
- Cover the wound with a new clean bandage if instructed. Otherwise, leave the wound dry.
- There may be residual foreign body that cannot be completely removed (e.g. wood splinter, tiny glass pieces, specks of sand). See a doctor if there is persistent foreign body sensation after stitch removal or signs of infection such as increasing redness, rapid swelling, intolerable pain, pus and discharge, or fever.
- Pain may be exacerbated when performing abdominal activities or coughing. Apply gentle pressure with a pillow or your hands over the injured area to support and reduce irritation and discomfort.
- When the doctor has agreed to oral diet, take small meals of light diet.
- The pain is usually worst 2-3 days after the injury. Ice packing the injured area on and off for 20 minutes may help reduce pain and swelling.
- Please call or return to the hospital as soon as possible if there are following symptoms：
- Rapidly expanding bruising over the abdomen or back
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Intolerable abdominal pain
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Abdominal stiffness
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Fresh blood in the stool or urine
- Rapidly expanding bruising over the abdomen or back
- Keep the area around the burn wound clean and dry.
- Do not break the blisters.
- Elevate the injured limb to help decrease pain and swelling.
- Take painkillers as prescribed.
- Change dressing and apply topical agents as prescribed or instructed.
- Follow-up as scheduled for wound reevaluation and change of dressing.
- Visit a doctor if the wound rapidly swells and expand or increases in pain.
- Rest and keep head elevated at approximately 30 degree angle. Avoid strenuous exercises or activities requiring heavy concentration including watching the television or reading.
- There might be symptoms of lethargy, dizziness, mild headache, nausea or mild vomiting after any level of head injury. Continue to rest and observe the extent and changes of the above symptoms.
- Withhold food temporally if there is any nausea or vomiting. If must eat, take small amounts of only soft food only such as porridge.
- Please call or return to the hospital as soon as possible if there are following symptoms：
- Intolerable and persistent headache
- Clear fluid or blood from the nostrils or ear canals
- Paralysis or change of weakness
- High fever
- Urine or stool incontinence
- Acute delirium or change of mental state such as not recognizing family, abnormal behaviors such as violence or hysteria, seizure, or loss of consciousness
- Have a friend or family member accompany the patient for the first 24 hours to check on the consciousness of the patient by every one to two hour.
- Avoid sedatives or sleeping pills. Only take the prescribed analgesics for headache relief.
- Chronic subdural hematoma can occur in the elderly after an apparently insignificant head trauma. Symptoms are often insiduous and may take weeks or months to develop. Return to the hospital if there is persistent headache, single-sided weakness, or retarded response.
- Parents should watch for the following symptoms in children who have experienced head injury：lowered activity, drowsiness, unconsolable crying, persistent vomiting, anorexia, seizure. Return or call the hospital if the above symptoms are noted.
- The injured area will continue to swell for the next 8-12 hours. Consider ice packing the wound and elevating the injured limb to help decrease swelling.
- Keep the wound clean and dry. Avoid water making contact with the wound. Bandages should be changed immediately if wet. Cover the sutured area with waterproof coverings such as a plastic bag during showers.
- If the wound is near a joint, try to minimize joint motion to prevent further bleeding and pain from wound irritation.
- If the wound is on the face and neck, use the prescribed topical agents instead of iodine or pigmented ointments to prevent skin discoloration.
- Return to the clinic as scheduled, usually 2 days after injury, for wound healing evaluation.
- Depending on the nature and healing conditions of the wound, most sutures may be removed after 7 days.
- There may be residual foreign body that cannot be completely removed (e.g. wood splinter, tiny glass pieces, specks of sand). See a doctor if there is persistent foreign body sensation after stitch removal or signs of infection such as increasing redness, rapid swelling, intolerable pain, pus and discharge, or fever.