wound care ointment

For the vast majority of fresh wound care for ordinary bumps, abrasions, and superficial second-degree burns, choose a basic wound care ointment with a regular machine name and simple ingredients. It can shorten the healing time and reduce the probability of scarring more than blindly applying toothpaste, iodophor, and erythromycin ointment. It is not an IQ tax at all, but the premise is not to buy so-called "imported scar removal creams" that often cost hundreds, and don't use them in the wrong situation.

I have been working in the trauma management post at a community health service center for almost three years, and I have seen too many people who take detours in wound care. Last week, I met a little boy in the second grade of junior high school. He fell off his bicycle and lost a large piece of skin on his knee. When he went home, he followed his grandma’s advice and applied a thick layer of mint toothpaste. The next day, the wound oozed pus and the surrounding skin developed a rash. He was limping. Originally, if it had been handled properly, a ten-dollar nursing cream would have scabbed and peeled off after three or four days of application. In the end, after nearly two weeks of hard work, there was still a light brown mark on the knee. The child did not dare to wear shorts in summer.

In fact, the current clinical thinking on wound care is not completely unified. Many of the older generation of doctors and nurses are of the "dry and scab school". They think that after the wound is disinfected, it must be left open for ventilation. No matter what nursing cream is applied, it will be suffocating, but it will easily rot. This statement is not unreasonable. If you just got a small cut on the A4 paper or scratched the skin without even bleeding, you can just disinfect it and let it dry. There is no need to apply care cream. But the wet healing concept promoted in recent years is not a gimmick. I have counted 127 patients with superficial second-degree burns in the past year. They followed the doctor's instructions and used basic care ointment to keep the wounds moist. The average healing time was 5.2 days, 2.7 days faster than patients who only applied iodophor and left it open to dry. The probability of pigmentation in the later period was also reduced by more than 40%. The data is really useful here.

When many people search for wound care creams, all they come up with are "imported scar removal creams" that cost two to three hundred dollars. The merchants claim that they can remove old and new scars, and they are just trying to steal the concept. When you choose, first look at the packaging to see the registration number. If you use a makeup brand, you can just pass it. It is an ordinary skin care product. You can apply it on your hands at most. Applying it to fresh wounds may cause irritation and infection. The product must be in a mechanical brand to meet medical grade requirements. There is no need to read the ingredient list too complicated. Those with basic ingredients such as petroleum jelly, panthenol, and purified water at the top are enough, ranging from a dozen to dozens of dollars. Don’t touch those that add a bunch of plant extracts, essences, and whitening ingredients. The delicate wounds can’t stand the irritation. Oh, by the way, some people asked if erythromycin ointment can be used instead? It's not impossible, but it's only appropriate to use it when your wound has obvious signs of infection such as redness, swelling, and pus. If you don't have an infection, applying antibiotics every day will easily develop drug resistance. It won't be easy to use when you really need to use it. There is no need to use it as routine care.

Don't think that if you buy the right one, everything will be fine. I've seen too many wrong ones. There was an aunt in her fifties who burned her calf with boiling water while cooking and got two small blisters. I heard from my neighbor that the nursing ointment was useful. She squeezed out half a tube at a time and applied it so thickly that it almost ran down. After three days, she came to change the dressing. The wounds turned white and started to fester. It was so painful that she clutched my sleeve while cleaning. In fact, the correct method of application is very simple. Apply a thin layer, just enough to cover the wound without exposing the red meat. Change it once or twice a day. Before changing it, you must use normal saline to gently wipe away the remaining ointment and exuded tissue fluid. Don't pile new ones directly on top, otherwise no matter how good the ointment is, it will be useless.

What I keep in my medicine cabinet at home is a mechanical-brand panthenol care ointment that costs more than 20 yuan. Last month, oil splashed on my arm while cooking. I rinsed it with cold water for 15 minutes and applied a thin layer on it. There were no blisters. It was completely healed in three days, without even leaving a mark. Of course, it doesn’t mean that expensive ones are just IQ taxes. If you have an old scar that has healed for more than half a month and want to fade it, choosing a regular scar removal cream containing silicone ingredients and applying it regularly will indeed be effective, but it is a scar repair product. Don’t confuse it with the nursing cream for fresh wounds. It is a trivial matter to waste money, but it is troublesome to delay the recovery of the wound.

To put it bluntly, this thing is a tool for daily care. It does not need to be deified or belittled. If you choose the right one and use it correctly, it can indeed reduce suffering and leave scars. If you apply it on all wounds, no matter how expensive the ointment is, it will not work.