SI Question - How long to heal?

[deadstar]

I cut my leg quite badly about six months ago and it was about 7cm long and 1.5 cm wide and fairly deep. I didn't get it looked at or stitched at the time and it stil hasn't healed completely. Should it have by now?

[rokan]

hi, i'm pretty sure it should have healed by now, depending on where it is it could be that it keeps coming open when you move, stopping it from healing,

Apart from watching out for signs of infection, which are still possible if it is still open, I would try and bring the cut together with steri-strips, obviously this might not be possible depending on what stage of healing it is at, but if you can try and keep it closed and together it should heal faster

look after yourself xx

[Bitter_Angel]

Dont use Steri strips if a wound is more than 24 hours old.

When you say its not healed, how do you mean? Can you explain what it looks like now?

[pugdog]

i had one on my arm that took forever to heal.. it wasnt quite that bad, only about 2cm long, but about 1cm wide and to the fat. The thing that was keeping it from healing was infection, and the way i was bandaging it. i wasnt allowing it to breathe properly and was cleaning it with peroxide every few days.
when i started putting neasporin on it instead of peroxide (peroxide kills healthy cells starting to repair itself) and i put on bandages that would allow it to breathe it started healing alot faster.
how are you bandaging it? is it infected? are you putting anything on it other than a bandage? are you scrubbing it alot when cleaning it? (that can tear the delicate repairing tissue) Has the edges of the wound started getting the purple scar tissue around the edges starting to grow it shut? Do you have an ED that would make you malnourished?
6 months is a long time to heal, and if it was properly dressed and looked after it should be healed by now.
take care, hope it closes up soon.

-brian