Risk of infection after getting blood drawn?

[SeraphisCain]

I got blood taken at the hospital less than 24 hours ago, and the puncture "wound" (for lack of a better term) hurts quite a bit now. It's not too red or anything, just hurts. So I was wondering, how long does it take for a needle puncture to heal to the point where it's no longer considered at risk for infection? Thanks.

[fallen_5555]

generally if you just had blood taken, you should have been told to apply pressure to where the blood was drawn from, this prevents brusing and sore/stifness. I wouldn't worry about it unless it presists for more than 48 hours. If you get a bruise(sp?) it may be becuase you didnt apply enough pressure. I always had that problem when I was on accutane and had to get blood samples monthly.

[kehorner]

They draw the blood under very clean conditions (at least, they should...), so the risk of infection is very low. Once your blood clots off and the wound seals itself, the chances of it getting infected from an outside source are very slim. I would say that that takes no more than an hour or so. So basically, they put the bandaid on your arm and you leave it there for a while and by the time you take it off you probably aren't going to get it infected unless you scratch at it a lot and rub dirt in it or something.

Most likely, you are just having some tenderness because somebody stuck a sharp metal object through your skin. Go ahead and ignore it unless it gets red, hot, you see red streaks going up your arm, or you get a fever.

[rowncris]

This is soooo ironic because I was going to ask somewhat the same question.
I noticed when the person was getting the gloves to draw my blood, she dropped the glove on the floor. Can this be bad? She also wasn't very good at doing it because I was hurting while she was doing it. When someone is good at it you can't feel it at all. She hurt one arm trying to find the vein and so that one is bruised right now (I bruise really easily) but my arm is hurting in the back near my shoulder and this part of my arm usually never hurts. I have my blood drawn quite often. The other arm was alot better but is also sore/bruised and I can see both the holes from which the blood was drawn from. This was done about 24 hours ago as well. Should I be able to see the holes and also be feeling the pain in the back of my arm??? And can it be bad that she used the glove on me that she dropped on the floor?? SCAREY!