So lacking a proper injury in a good year, I fell (doing the usual for those who know me) and landed on my my elbow yesterday around 2. A half hour later I noticed that my sweater was soaked in blood.

Cleaned up the little wound, decided it was too small to warrant stitches. After an hour, the bandage was drenched, removed it and recleaned it. Notice that there was a good hunk of 'fatty-like tissue' hanging out, almost a square cm worth. Figured it was just somes scar tissue.

Fast forward to today, it's still leaking plasma like fluids at a dampening pace, but slowly getting better.

Should I be worried about this hunk of tissue outside the wound? It isnt' really bleeding anymore, but still hasn't really scabbed over.

Any input or experience would be enjoyed!

Get thee to a hospital or Dr.

Or post a pic and let us all have a go at diagnosis and prognosis. Hang on whilst I get some doughnuts and cheesecake for my coffee.

Can you please go and get it checked out !!!

Open wounds are nothing to be taken lightly. Why risk complications and potential future injuries/consequences?

The fact that you're asking here means that you don't think it's normal, in which case a trip to the docs/hospital would probably be a good idea.

If only for the proper cleaning, you have no idea what kind of evil bugs could get into unprofessionally cleaned open wound.

There should be a walk in, non life threatening situations, surgical clinic somewhere near you, we have that here exactly for cases like you described.

Good luck healing.

Weeping wounds are not completely unknown to me, depending on WHERE on your elbow it is, it maybe hard to stitch anyhow.

The bits hanging out though, that would have prompted me to have someone (professional) look at it.

Maybe if you're a good boy, the nice doctor will give you a lollipop.

I can't get my hands on a good camera for a decent picture. the loose tissue part has seemed to migrate and solidify back to the wound (I guess under the pressure of the dressings). No more blood, but still damp with plasma like liquid.

I'm fairly confident with my wound cleaning ability, but perhaps it's best to swing by permanence this afternoon when I get a chance.

On a side note, whats a good method to get blood stains out of sheets, linens and sweaters ?

This is off-topic. Info here. I'd have the wound checked out though. Elbows which don't 'work properly' are a real nuisance.

Make sure you soak it asap, it's the water in the fibers that will save the textile, since it dilutes the mess, dryer the mess is, more stubborn the stain will become. Cold water only. First try with Perwoll, you wet the stain (and make sure it is always wet, if it dries, you wet it again), and run Perwoll in it. It worked on anything I used. Then after a couple of hours, rub it under running water (don't rub wool at all, maybe softly squeeze, since it would felt, anything else is ok to rub with a vegetable brush, and sheets and linens rub hard). Repeat the whole process until the stains are gone. Throw all into washer (but woolly sweater), you can add Vanish for colors (white if your sheets and linen are white), you can also pour Vanish directly onto the stains, let it sit, then rub...etc. just like with Perwoll.

Ice-cold water helped me get beet juice out of a nice shirt. Problem with blood is the iron content (hemoglobin) will leave a 'rust' color that's hard to remove, and the clotting factors will clot to almost anything, it seems.

Your best bet is professional cleaning. After that, I would search out a stain-remover/pre-treater that specifically mentions removing bloodstains and just have at it with a lot of elbow-grease (sorry for the pun ) and a few (several) cycles through the wash machine.

Don't forget to check when you had your last Tetanus shot.

So, Chemmie... did you see someone about your cut? How are you doing today?

If it's not too large of a surface, spit on it and rub it in. Gross as it sounds, the enzymes in your saliva will break up the blood stain... if it's your own blood. This sounds like there might be a good bit of blood.

But I hope you had it checked and that you are feeling better.

I would personally hesitate to do this as our mouths are breeding grounds for bacteria that could be transferred to the wound.

I think she was speaking about the blood-stains on the sheet...

This is probably too late but Vanish stain spray gets blood stains out brilliantly. No need for professional cleaning. One of my sons has had frequent nose bleeds from birth and I have never not been able to get the stains out with Vanish .. even out of the sofa arm rest one day.

Oh yes ... duh

i second this and if you only have the powder variety, don't waste time putting a scoop in the wash - it just doesn't work. Make up a paste with a load of the powder and a bit of water, cake it all over the stain and leave it to do its magic for an hour or so, then chuck everything in the wash with biological washing powder (not non-biological).

Comes out a treat.

EDIT: Oh, and get your elbow looked at - it sounds like a painful mess!

I cut the corner of my finger off a couple of years ago and for around 2 weeks I had the most gross looking "lump" of raw flesh ballooning out of the wound... it was almost constantly wet and hurt like a bitch. It was, however, part of the normal healing process, and went on to form the missing part of my finger (it was quite amazing, I really saw the body healing itself in a very outwardly visible way).

You shouldn't really be asking medical questions on a forum full of non-medical muggins though, so get yourself to the docs for a checkup asap.

Milk