Wound care health education content

To prevent infection, promote healing, and reduce the risk of scarring, the three most critical operations are "debridement correctly as soon as possible, strictly abide by aseptic principles when changing dressings, and avoid taboos that slow down healing." Don't believe in the various "magic remedies" on the Internet. If you do these things right, more than 90% of ordinary wounds can recover smoothly and leave less scars.

Last week, I met a young man in the outpatient clinic. He fell on a shared bicycle and scratched a large area on his knee. When he returned home, he poured high-strength liquor to disinfect his knee. He also sprinkled Yunnan Baiyao powder and wrapped it with an airtight band-aid. When he came on the third day, pus had already leaked and he was grinning in pain. This is a typical care pitfall.

Let’s first talk about the choice of disinfectants that everyone is most concerned about. In fact, there are different trends in the industry: most surgical clinics now prefer iodophor, which is less irritating and has a broad bactericidal spectrum and is suitable for most superficial wounds.； Some veteran doctors with rich experience in treating wounds believe that for deep wounds that are particularly contaminated, the first debridement can be flushed with 75% alcohol or diluted hydrogen peroxide to bring out the sediment and impurities hidden in the skin folds. Subsequent dressing changes can be replaced with iodophor - after all, repeated use of irritating disinfectant will kill the new granulation tissue and will slow down the healing rate. If the injury occurs on delicate parts such as the face or mucous membranes, and you are afraid that iodophor will leave temporary pigmentation, you can completely wash away the dirt with warm saline, and then apply a thin layer of erythromycin ointment. This is a mild solution highly recommended by dermatologists and is almost non-irritating.

There is another question that has been debated for many years: after disinfection, is it better to leave the wound open or to wrap it? In fact, both approaches have applicable scenarios, and they are not black and white. For example, if you have a small cut on your hand, the bleeding is small, and you can't touch dirt at ordinary times. Just disinfect it and let it dry. Bacteria are not easy to breed in a dry environment, so it will heal faster. ； However, if it is an area that often rubs against clothes, such as the knees, waist and abdomen, or in summer when you sweat a lot, it is still recommended to cover it with sterile gauze or a breathable hydrocolloid dressing. Otherwise, bacteria on the clothes or sweat can soak in, which will lead to infection. Oh, by the way, many medical aesthetic institutions now recommend wet healing, which says it leaves no scabs or scars. This statement is not a lie, but it requires a full aseptic operation. It is difficult for ordinary people to achieve this environment at home. If the operation is not performed properly, infection will be caused, but it will be more troublesome than dry healing. If it is a cosmetic suture wound on the face, and you want to leave as few scars as possible, it is recommended to go to the dressing room of a regular hospital to do it, instead of messing around at home.

Don’t throw random things on the wound. This is what I want to remind everyone most after staying in the dressing room for 5 years. Toothpaste, incense ash, cephalosporin powder, and I have also encountered people who sprinkle sugar on them and say they can stop bleeding. Sprinkling these unsterilized things directly turns the wound into a bacterial culture dish. Small wounds that originally healed in two or three days often turned into ulcers. Also, don’t pick the scabs when you have nothing to do. Last month, there was a junior high school girl. The scabs on her knees had just grown half way through. She felt itchy so she picked them every day. As a result, a dark brown pigmentation was left. She is still undergoing laser lightening. If it is itchy, gently pat the surrounding skin twice, or apply a little calamine lotion to the unbroken areas. Just don’t touch the wounds.

Many people ask whether they should avoid soy sauce or beef and mutton. To be honest, there is really no clinical evidence for this. As long as you are not allergic to these foods, you can eat them. Instead, eat more high-protein eggs and milk, and the wound will heal faster. What you should really avoid are tobacco, alcohol, and particularly spicy and irritating foods. Smoking will constrict blood vessels and affect the blood supply to wounds. It may heal slowly and easily leave hypertrophic scars. This has been confirmed by a large number of clinical cases, so don’t take it seriously.

If you are really not sure how to treat your wound, go to a community hospital near your home and ask a nurse to change the medicine. It costs more than ten yuan, which is much more reliable than trying to figure out online strategies at home.