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Medical Author:

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, is a U.S. board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Cunha's educational background includes a BS in Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a DO from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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When to Seek Medical Care

Call your doctor to decide whether you need a tetanus booster. You should have had a tetanus booster immunization within the last 10 years if you have a simple, clean cut, or within the last five years if you have a more complex or dirty cut.

Beyond general wound care advice, it is very difficult to give advice on care specific to a patient's cut over the phone. Your doctor may help you decide whether it is better to go to the doctor's office or to a hospital's Emergency Department.

Ask these questions when considering whether to get treatment for a cut at a hospital's Emergency Department:

• Can you stop the bleeding?
  
  
• Are the wound edges separated?
  
  
• Can you adequately clean the wound?
  
  
• Is it possible that serious underlying damage was done (such as a cut nerve or tendon)?
  
  
• Do you need a tetanus or rabies shot?
  
  
  • Tetanus is a serious condition resulting from a poison made by the Clostridium tetani bacterium, which is often present in dirt.
    
    
  • Rabies is a serious viral infection of the nervous system resulting from bites of rabid animals.