Today I nicked myself shaving. No big deal, right? Normally it's not. But this morning the cut was right on the edge of the lip, and I must have severed a fairly significant blood vessel right near the surface. It bled fiercely. I thought I had it stopped after about 1 hour of pressure and perhaps a tablespoon or more of shed blood. But then it opened back up and it took 1.5 hours more to once again get it to stop. Now I am sitting nearly motionless, determined to not disturb the wound so that hopefully it will clot properly and start to heal.
The cut was about 1/10th of a millimeter. I'm very serious ... it was that small.
And it got me wondering -- what is one supposed to do about things like that? The normal procedure would be pressure and elevation, which I tried, but to no avail. In both instances where it stopped -- the first, which gave way, and now, which I'm crossing my fingers on -- it stopped for no apparent reason. Going to a hospital would earn me the laughs and guffaws of those there. "It's tiny! Why are you wasting our time?"
Suturing is out of the question ... the wound is too small for that. Cauterization would probably be the course of action if pressure and elevation failed to stem the bleeding.
I wonder if anyone makes a "home cauterization kit?" Probably not. They make "Styptic pencils," which attempt to constrict the blood vessels to assist in coagulation. I tried one of those, but to no avail. I read on Wikipedia that there is heat cauterization, electric (which probably involves localized heat), and chemical (using silver nitrate).
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