When you have sustained some kind of puncture or injury to your foot and you are left with a cut, you should start thinking about the possibility of infection. You want to avoid getting an infected foot if you can. Our skin is there to make sure foreign materials do not make their way in. Unfortunately, sharp objects can sometimes leave an unsuspecting foot with a large, painful cut.
If something does manage to get through, we have internal antibodies that automatically attack foreign elements and defend the health of the body. There are a couple ways to determine whether or not an infection has set in on the foot. The redness, swelling and pain would be noticeable right away. The external appearance of the skin would look bruised or red and would be hot to the touch. These are excellent signs that an infection has either struck or is about to take hold.
When an infection has already taken hold, the pain, redness and swelling are extremely obvious. It may discharge some kind of milky substance of a yellow or green color or it may leak pus. Both of these are signs that a doctor should be seen for a full course of antibiotics.
Fever, body aches and other problems can happen if an infection is not treated before it advances to a more severe stage. Once it gets into the bloodstream, it can cause a systemic infection, which can have long lasting or deadly results.
A systemic infection is one that has advanced well beyond the stages of normal infections. A normal infection will be centralized to the point of the wound, whereas systemic has traveled through the body in the bloodstream. Long-term damage can result from a systemic infection.
Before it gets to an advanced stage, it is possible to clean the wound and avoid the infection altogether. This is something that should be done as soon as the injury is received. Rinsing with tap water is fine if that is what is available. If it is possible to use hydrogren peroxide or one of the other healing cleansers that are available on the market today, this would be better as it provides a more thorough cleaning.
After cleansing thoroughly, over the counter antibiotic creams can be applied and covered with a gauze or bandage for 3 or 4 days. The wound should be monitored for healing progress through this time. An infected foot should be rested as much as possible until the redness, swelling and pain have ceased. If the pain does not go away, a doctor should be consulted. Some people search for home remedies to help heal the infection, instead of using over the counter remedies. Two of these are garlic and honey. Both are known to boost the immune system, fight and ward off infections anywhere in the body.
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