wound care ointment

Wound care ointment is not an IQ tax, but it is not a panacea that can cure all wounds. Its core value is to help qualified wounds maintain a moist healing environment, reduce the probability of infection, and reduce the risk of scarring. If you choose the wrong scene and buy the wrong ingredients, no matter how much money you spend, it will be in vain, and it may even damage the skin.

Last week, I opened a package and got a one-centimeter-long cut with a utility knife. I just took out the imported hydrogel nursing ointment that my best friend gave me to apply. My mother snatched it away from me and said, "It's ridiculous. Apply iodophor and put a Band-Aid on it to heal quickly. These fancy ointments are just to deceive young people out of their money." The two of them almost quarreled over this trivial matter. In fact, the difference in wound care concepts between the two generations is almost twenty years.

As early as the 1960s, studies have confirmed that the wound healing speed in a moist environment is twice that of a dry environment. After 2000, the WHO also officially listed wet healing as a standard protocol for wound care. Nowadays, clinical postoperative wound care and burn and scald care basically follow this logic. To put it bluntly, wound care cream is a carrier used to artificially create this moist environment - it is not that it has any "myogenic miraculous effect", but that it provides a more comfortable environment for the skin to heal itself.

But if you say it can be used on any wound, many surgeons will be the first to disagree. I used to go to a community hospital to change the medicine for abrasions. The old doctor who attended the consultation said that when you sweat a lot in summer, there is no need to apply nursing cream to superficial abrasions on the limbs. Leaving them dry will make them heal faster. Applying a layer of ointment will make you feel stuffy, and the sweat mixed with tissue fluid will not seep out, but it is easy to breed bacteria. This is really not an old-fashioned saying. I broke my knee while riding an electric bike last summer. I applied nursing ointment and wrapped it with gauze. The next day, the wound was so stuffy that it turned white and pus leaked. Later, after letting it dry for three days, the scab became clearer. Both statements are actually correct, but they are suitable for different scenarios.

To be honest, there are really only two scenarios where ordinary people prepare nursing cream. One is fresh, clean wounds, such as small cuts from cutting vegetables, shallow second-degree burns (the kind with small blisters but not ulcerated), small wounds after mole laser surgery. For such wounds that are not contaminated, applying a layer of care ointment that does not contain irritating ingredients, and then applying a thin hydrocolloid dressing will basically leave no scars. I had three moles last year, and applied recombinant human epidermal growth factor gel for a week as the doctor said, and now there are no traces on my face at all. The other is new skin care after scab removal. At this time, choose a silicone-containing care cream and apply it for three to six months to minimize the probability of hypertrophic scars. Don’t trust those “scar removal creams” that add snow lotus and lavender. Silicone is currently the only topical scar removal ingredient certified by both the FDA and NMPA. Others are not supported by solid clinical data.

Oh, by the way, there is another pitfall that many people step on. Don’t use antibiotic ointment as a normal care ointment. For example, erythromycin and mupirocin need to be used only when the wound has signs of infection such as redness, swelling, and pus. Apply it when there is nothing to do. It is easy to develop drug resistance and will not be used when it is needed. There is also the kind of "universal wound care ointment" sold in live broadcast studios for tens of dollars for a large box. It is said to be able to cure eczema, burns, and acne marks. If you look down the ingredient list, you will find a bunch of flavors and preservatives. Apply it to the delicate skin that has just grown, and it will not become red and itchy. My colleague stepped on this trap last month. He fell and scratched his skin and applied that ointment. The next day, he was so swollen that he could not walk. It cost him hundreds of dollars to go to the hospital to debridement.

In fact, to put it bluntly, there is no need to buy too expensive wound care ointments. An ordinary care ointment that costs ten yuan and uses white petroleum jelly as a base is not much different from the imported product that costs several hundred yuan. The basic moisture-locking and moisturizing effect is not much different. If you really want to prevent scars, just choose a regular silicone ointment. If you really encounter a wound that is so deep that you can see fat, is pricked by rust, or is scratched and bitten by a cat or dog, don't think that it can be solved by applying ointment. Go to the hospital for debridement, stitches, and get the corresponding vaccine. It is more reliable than anything else.