Cauterize – Fire to heal wounds? 😮

Question

In a scene from The Blacklist, one of the characters uses a lighter on a wound to “cauterize” it. It looks painful but works. What exactly is it and is it actually done in medical scenarios?

In: 97

Answer 1

Also a lighter won’t “cauterize” a wound. You typically use metal to do that. Open flames cause burns, metal sears the wound and closes it.