How to Fix a Laceration in Project Zomboid - Treatment Guide

How to Fix a Laceration in Project Zomboid

A laceration is more serious than a scratch but less serious than a deep wound or fracture. It causes moderate health loss, bleeding, and pain. Untreated lacerations bleed out - and if the source was a zombie, lacerations carry a 25% chance of Knox Virus infection, monitored over a 24-hour incubation window.

Step 1: Stop the Bleeding

1. Open the Health panel (the heart icon, hotkey H).
2. Right-click the bleeding wound entry.
3. Select a bandage:
   • Sterilized Bandage - preferred, lower infection chance from regular wound contamination.
   • Bandage - works fine.
   • Ripped Sheets - torn from clothing in an emergency. Counts as a "dirty" bandage; replace ASAP.

Step 2: Sterilize Before Bandaging (Recommended)

Apply a sterilizer to the wound before the bandage to reduce the chance of regular wound infection (this does NOT prevent Knox Virus infection from a zombie source). Two of the options carry an explicit alcohol power in the build, and they are not equal on weight:

Cotton balls are the pick. Identical alcohol power to wipes at a third of the weight, and you make them from cotton balls plus any spirit rather than looting a pharmacy. Bourbon and other spirits still work as a field substitute; they simply carry no alcohol power value of their own in the item files.

First, Get the Glass Out

A laceration from a window carries glass, and a bandage over glass does not heal. Six items in Build 42 are tagged to remove glass and bullets, and the weight difference between them is the whole decision. Read from the shipped files of the Build 42 Stable server we run (build 24909836):

Carry tweezers. They do the same job as the multitool at one fifth of the weight, and the forged version exists so you can still make them once the loot dries up. The multitool is only worth its 0.5 if you are already carrying it for the other eleven jobs it covers: screwdriver, pliers, scissors, awl, small files, can opener, bottle opener, sharp knife, plant cutter, animal butcher and bullet removal.

Build 42 Tripled the Needle Holder

The Suture Needle Holder went from 0.1 to 0.3 between Build 41 and Build 42, so an old loadout guide will understate your medical weight. The plain Base.SutureNeedle stayed at 0.1 and is tagged as fitting in a wallet, so one needle costs you effectively nothing to carry. Build 42 also added Base.SutureNeedleBox at 1.0, which is ten needles' worth of weight; empty it and leave the box.

Step 3: Replace Dirty Bandages

Bandages get dirty over time. A dirty bandage stops bleeding but raises the chance of secondary infection. Open the Health panel periodically and re-bandage with a clean (ideally sterilized) one until the wound closes.

Step 4: Wait Out the 24-Hour Knox Window

If the laceration came from a zombie, you have a 25% chance of zombification at default settings. Symptoms appear progressively over 24 in-game hours: queasy, then nauseous, then full sickness. There is no cure for the Knox Virus once it takes hold.

Bonus: Level Up First Aid While You Heal

Every bandaging and stitching action grants First Aid XP. See our First Aid leveling guide for ways to grind it intentionally.

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