What may increase your risk for problems from a cut, bite, or other skin injury?

Many conditions, lifestyle choices, medicines, and diseases interfere with your ability to heal or fight infection. You may be at risk for a more serious problem from your symptoms if you have any of the following. Be sure to tell your doctor.

Conditions

• A problem or condition present since birth (congenital defect)
• Age older than 60
• Artificial joint or heart valve
• Skin injury while traveling in a foreign country or in the United States near the border with Mexico
• Child younger than 6 months old
• Malnutrition
• Obesity
• Previous surgery to remove the lymph nodes near the skin injury
• Previous similar injury
• Previous surgery to injured area
• Previous surgery to remove the spleen
• Swelling (edema) in the limb where the injury occurred
• Unknown or uncertain tetanus immunization history

Lifestyle choices

• Alcohol abuse or withdrawal
• Drug abuse or withdrawal
• Smoking or other tobacco use

Medicines

• Anticoagulants, such as aspirin, heparin, and warfarin (Coumadin)
• Corticosteroids, such as prednisone
• Medications to prevent organ transplant rejection
• Medications used to treat cancer (chemotherapy)
• Radiation therapy

Diseases

• Anemia
• An eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa
• Autoimmune diseases, such as lupus
• Bleeding disorder, such as hemophilia or von Willebrand's disease
• Cancer
• Decreased blood flow, such as venous insufficiency or peripheral arterial disease
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
• Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteomyelitis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sickle cell disease