A cut that needs cleaning and closing, a dressing that needs changing, stitches or staples ready to come out. Phone and describe what you need before you make the trip: not every small procedure is done in a family practice, and the desk can tell you whether yours is one of them or whether it goes somewhere else.
What the visit covers
- Cleaning and dressing a fresh cut, graze or small burn
- A dressing changed part-way through healing
- Stitches or staples out after a hospital or urgent-care visit
- A second look at a wound turning red, swollen or leaking
- Whether your last tetanus dose still counts for this wound
- What to do after an animal bite or scratch
- A mole or lump assessed, and whether it needs removing, a biopsy or nothing
Tetanus timing, and dressings changed at home
Find the date of your last tetanus dose before you phone, because it decides whether this wound needs one today. If you have had three or more doses in your life, the Canadian Immunization Guide's threshold for a clean, minor wound is ten years or more since the last one. For any other wound — one significantly contaminated with material likely to carry tetanus spores, meaning soil, animal or human faeces, or a wound with dead tissue in it — that drops to five years.
Fewer than three doses ever, or no idea how many, and the answer works out differently, so say so at the desk. The ten-year routine booster is a separate question from this one: here the wound sets the interval.
If you were never fully immunized and the wound is anything worse than minor, the guide calls for tetanus immune globulin as well as the vaccine. Not every clinic keeps it in stock, so ask on the phone where to get it rather than making the trip twice. And clean the wound now, thoroughly: of everything done after an injury, the guide puts timely, thorough cleaning first, ahead of the needle.
A wound that needs re-dressing every second day for a month does not need a car journey every second day. Ontario's home care includes nursing help to change bandages and clean wounds, paid for by the province if you qualify. Ontario Health atHome is the way in, on 1-833-515-1234, and Ontario's own instruction is to contact them and request it — you are not waiting to be sent. A case manager or care coordinator then makes an initial assessment of what you need and what you are eligible for.
What OHIP covers
OHIP pays where there is a medical reason for the procedure — a wound that needs care, an infection, a skin change that needs assessing. Cosmetic surgery is on Ontario's published list of what OHIP leaves out, so anything removed only because you dislike the look of it is billed to you. Plenty of lesions sit between the two. Ask before anything is done: whether it is insured, and if it is not, what it costs.
Walk in, or book?
Phone first and say what you need. The clinic takes walk-ins, but a procedure can need a booked slot and the supplies ready on the day, so let the desk tell you which of the two yours is — and whether it is done here at all.
What to bring
- Your health card
- The discharge note, if stitches or staples are coming out
- Any dressings or supplies you were sent home with
- The date of your last tetanus dose, or your immunization record
- A photo of the wound on the day it happened, if you took one
Questions people ask
A dog bit me. What do I do first?
Clean the bite or scratch thoroughly with soap and water, then get seen quickly. Peel Public Health's instruction is to call your family doctor or go to the nearest hospital for advice and treatment: treatment for rabies is safe and effective, but it has to be given as soon as possible after a bite or scratch. Whoever sees you reports the exposure to Peel Public Health, and a Public Health Inspector assesses the risk from the animal involved and the circumstances. Peel's own lines are 905-799-7700 and 1-888-919-7800 if you want to reach them yourself.
How do I know whether a mole is worth showing anyone?
Health Canada's five questions are the ones to ask at home. Do the two halves not match if you draw a line through it? Are the edges uneven, scalloped or notched? Are there several shades in it — brown, red, white, blue or black? Is it wider than 6 mm, a pencil eraser or bigger? And has anything changed in its size, shape, colour or height, or started bleeding, itching or crusting? Any one of those, and the advice is to see a health care provider as soon as possible.
Will OHIP pay to have a mole or a skin tag removed?
Getting it looked at is insured, because OHIP covers what is medically necessary. Removing it is a separate question, and the answer turns on the medical reason for removing it: cosmetic surgery is one of the things Ontario names as outside OHIP, so a lesion taken off because you dislike it is on you. Ontario's page does not settle individual cases either way, so ask two things before anything is booked — whether removal is insured in your case, and whether it is a procedure done in the office at all.
A boil keeps coming back and will not clear. Worth a visit?
Yes. Staph bacteria cause skin infections that look like a pimple or a boil — red, swollen, painful, or with pus or other drainage — and some strains are resistant to methicillin, though caught early they can usually be treated with other antibiotics. That is the argument for having it identified rather than guessing at it. Meanwhile keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered until they heal, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, and stop sharing towels and razors. Left alone these can turn into infection of the bloodstream, the bones or the lungs.
Still have a question? Call the front desk.
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- Flu shots and routine immunizationsFlu shots in season, routine vaccines
- Referrals and lab requisitionsSpecialist referrals and blood work
