Human bites

It’s been 12 days now, and I just noticed a painful lump right below the site
of the bite (on my forearm). Has anyone dealt with this before? I'm honestly questioning whether I should have
gotten a tetanus shot; the nurse at the clinic where I work didn't
bring it up at all.

🤔 It really comes down to the bite itself, how healthy you are overall, and the hygiene of the person who bit you. Honestly, thinking about how many people walk around with terrible breath, I’d say you probably should have asked first—you likely would’ve just gotten a shot and been done with it. 🤷
If it starts looking infected, go see a doctor. They'll clean it out, and you'll most likely end up on antibiotics. For what it's worth, I've been bitten by dogs a few times and it was never an issue; animals are clearly more hygienic than some people. 🙄.

I don't want to freak you out, but you should seriously consider getting blood work done. A human bite involving blood and saliva can pass on all sorts of diseases you don't want to deal with.

The lump is under the skin, and I don't think it was actually there right after the bite
. The skin has healed up—it’s not like the teeth even broke the surface.

Then it’s not really an issue—just a knot from a bruise or a blunt impact. A bruise is basically just mechanical damage where the skin and underlying tissue stay intact.

If it starts feeling stuck or weird, go see a doctor. Until then, just keep an eye on it. Watch for any discoloration in the skin. Green, blue, red...

vividskipper15 said:It's been about 12 days now, and I just noticed this painful lump on my forearm right where
the bite happened. Has anyone dealt with this before? I'm wondering if I should have gotten
a tetanus shot, though the nurse at the clinic where I work didn't
bring it up.

Look, if you weren't bitten by a zombie, you really don't have anything to worry about. 🙂

lonejackal6 said:If you haven't been bitten by a zombie yet, what's there to be afraid of? Honestly! 🙂

Wait, hold on just a second—that’s just not true! Not even close!

You know, I was just thinking about this, and honestly? A human bite is actually way more dangerous than a dog bite when it comes to infections. Seriously, think about it! We walk around with all sorts of bacteria in our mouths every single day, right? It’s wild! So when you consider how much nastier a human bite can be compared to, say, a Golden Retriever, it really puts things into perspective. Isn't that just terrifying?

Honestly, she really ought to just give her primary care doctor a call! Why wait around? She needs to get them on the line so they can tell her exactly what the next steps should be. It’s best to just follow their lead, right?
It’s actually pretty possible that this painful little lump under your skin is an abscess... and if it is, you might be looking at needing a quick trip to the surgeon to get it handled!

Look, you might not even need to see a doctor, but if we aren't talking about a kid or someone with special needs, whoever bit you really ought to go see a psychiatrist or something.
You probably just have some bruised tissue or a little hematoma going on, which your body will eventually just clear out on its own.