Cauterizing or Stitches

BlackBriar · Aug 17, 2009

So my MC in my YA has just been shot by the 'cops'. He can't go to the hospital of course, but finally makes it to a friends house. The bullet went straight through, hitting nothing vital.

Would cauterizing him be the best way to heal? He has been bleeding for a while. I don't think stitches can stop blood flow from a bullet easily, but I may be wrong.

semilargeintestine · Aug 17, 2009

Where did the bullet strike him? That's important.

GeorgeK · Aug 17, 2009

Unless he's a surgeon he'd be far more likely to worsen the risk of infection by not knowing hot to properly cauterize. Stitches are safer. Even safer still would be a good bandage.

raburrell · Aug 17, 2009

There's a semi-humorous video here that kinda shows how you'd do it:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-treat-a-bullet-wound-at-home-77608/
Pay no attention to the reeeeeally bad acting

BlackBriar · Aug 17, 2009

Oops, forgot to mention it went straight through the shoulder.

Thanks for the link raburrell. Cauterizing is the way I'll go. It's a bad neighborhood, so the old man who did it would have had some skill.

Thanks everyone.

GraysonMoran · Aug 17, 2009

Pour whiskey on it, like in the movies. If it's really serious, light the whiskey up (it burns in movies)

Kathie Freeman · Aug 18, 2009

It would need to be pretty high in the shoulder to miss the scapula. Also the exit wound is likely to be a lot messier than the entry wound. Depending on caliber and type could be as big as your fist. You need small caliber steel-jacketed to make it mendable by an amateur.

Tsu Dho Nimh · Aug 19, 2009

Pressure on the wound, from a snugly-wrapped bandage, not stitches or cauterizing, is what will do it.

He's going to heal with far more scar tissue than he would if it were properly repaired, and runs a higher risk of infection.

DeleyanLee · Aug 19, 2009

How realistic are you trying to be?

"Just a shoulder wound" is still very serious because all the muscles for that arm are tied into the back and chest muscles--which means his ability to lift any amount of weight is nil. It could also affect his balance (especially if it's an ugly exit wound messing up the back muscles) in standing upright because all the muscles to keep you upright are networked in there.

And then there's blood loss to be considered, which is going to drain his energy.

Cauterizing is also a traumatic event to the body, so it's going to have a shock reaction to it.

I really hope you don't expect this character to jump right up afterward and finish saving the world.

smcc360 · Aug 19, 2009

You also have about five arteries running through the shoulder, in addition to the muscle group, a major joint, and lots of bone to be shattered. Contrary to what's shown in movies and on television, a gunshot wound to the shoulder is an extraordinarily serious injury.

If you want something your character could reasonably handle on his own, you might consider a bullet through the calf (side-to-side, so as to avoid the tibia and the fibula bones, and the posterior tibial artery). Painful, bloody, and it'll leave a cool scar, but it won't likely require major surgery.

BlackBriar · Aug 19, 2009

Thanks smcc360 for the helpful advice. My character isn't exactly 'normal' when it comes from what he can recover from, but I'll think about changing the wound.

Edit-

Tvtropes has some info-

"Insofar as this trope has any truth to it at all, it comes from the fact that the largest muscle pads on the human body — about the only type of tissue which can take a wound of impressive visual nastiness that isn't necessarily incapacitating or life-threatening — are in the thighs and the outside (not the center) of the shoulder."

Cauterizing or Stitches

BlackBriar

Bricoleur

semilargeintestine

BassGirl 5000

GeorgeK

ever seeking

raburrell

Treguna Makoidees Trecorum SadisDee

BlackBriar

Bricoleur

GraysonMoran

Kathie Freeman

That Crazy Cat Lady

Tsu Dho Nimh

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

smcc360

I've Got An MFA In LEO

BlackBriar

Bricoleur