An incised wound is a clean cut injury caused by a bladed object such as a knife, and is important in forensic science investigations. Immediate health risks include blood loss and organ damage, and treatment involves stitches or drainage.
An incised wound is a specific type of injury that has opened up the skin. Characterized by a relatively clean cut mark, a person is most likely to receive this type of injury from a bladed implement such as a knife. Incised wounds can be extremely important in forensic science investigations of violent crimes, such as homicides. In contrast to this type of wound, a blunt-edge injury that not only creates an open wound, but damages the tissue around the wound, is called a lacerated wound.
When a physician refers to damage to the body as a wound, it means that the injury did not result from disease but from accidental or deliberate bodily harm. When the injury doesn’t break the skin, it’s called a blunt wound. The other major wound types, which include incised wounds, fall into the category of open wounds, as this means that the skin is broken.
Typically, a person with an incised wound has cut themselves on an object, or someone else has used a tool with an edge sharp enough to cut the patient’s skin. Common bladed tools found in the home that could create this form of injury include knives, razors and scissors. Axes and objects that break off to form sharp edges, such as broken window glass, are possible causes of an incised wound.
In times of war, incised wounds may be from bayonets, daggers or, historically, swords. The sharp-edged tool can cause a stab wound, where the cut is longer than it is deep, or a stab wound, where the edge leaves a deeper wound than the opening it leaves in the skin. An incised wound can also be a stab wound, if the stab damage is deep enough to damage an organ or to enter a body cavity under the skin. If the cut extends into the respiratory organs, creating a gap for air to flow in and out of, this is also a suction wound.
Immediate health risks to a person with an incised wound include the possibility of blood loss if the cut is severe or if a major blood vessel ruptures. When the incision is a piercing or sucking wound and the organ damage is too great, the person may die or be severely incapacitated as a result of the injury. A doctor typically closes the wound by applying stitches that hold the edges together. Some wounds may heal without stitches and leave an open scar, while others require drainage before the wound can be stitched up.
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