Press Room

Human skin has very important physical, chemical and biological barrier functions. Skin damage caused by trauma, burns and skin ulcers causes a number of problems in the body. Therefore, after skin damage, it is usually necessary to use skin substitutes such as medical wound dressings to protect the wound, prevent wound infection and severe dehydration, provide a moist environment conducive to wound healing, control wound inflammatory factors, etc. to promote wound healing.

Wound dressing changes are an important surgical procedure in skin wound care, but people are often confused about how often they should be changed. Many people even believe that "the more often you change the dressing, the better for the wound". Of course, modern medicine has proven this to be false. Not only does this practice fail to promote wound healing, but too frequent dressing changes damage the granulation tissue on the wound, affecting its growth, prolonging the healing time of the wound and causing excessive scar tissue proliferation, which is not conducive to wound healing.

The purpose of wound dressing changes is to monitor wound healing, check for signs of infection, remove secretions, clean the wound and apply new wound dressings to prevent contamination of the wound by secretions, promote the growth of granulation and epithelial tissue and ultimately achieve the purpose of wound healing. Practice has shown that intermittent wound dressing changes are better than daily wound dressing changes.

What is the appropriate interval between dressing changes?

The dressing time for wounds cannot be generalised. It should be determined according to the specific conditions of the wound, such as granulation tissue, exudate, odour, etc. Each wound is different and you should follow your doctor's advice to see your doctor and change the dressing on time.

Depending on the infection of the wound, it can be divided into:

①Sterile wounds can be changed every 2 to 3 days after surgery.

② Contaminated wounds can be changed every 1 to 2 days and then it depends on the condition of the wound. It is necessary to concentrate on monitoring for signs of infection.

③Infected wounds generally need to be changed once a day, and at any time if necessary. If there is an abscess, the pus must be removed in time to ensure good drainage. In special circumstances (e.g. unexplained fever, bleeding or dressing contamination, increased pus, odour, etc.), the dressing should be changed promptly. The dressing time will also vary for different wounds and the specific situation should be reviewed by the doctor or nurse.

How can you tell what type of wound you have?

Clean wounds are usually created under sterile conditions, such as surgical incisions. They are characterised by clean edges, little tissue damage, low risk of infection and rapid healing.

Infected wounds are wounds with obvious infection and inflammation. They are characterised by redness, swelling, heat, pain, pus and possibly odour at the wound surface. They require antibiotic treatment and debridement, such as infected surgical incisions, abscesses and chronic ulcer infections.

Contaminated wounds are wound surfaces that are exposed to a bacterial environment but are not yet infected. They are characterised by the presence of bacteria but have not caused infection. They must be cleaned and disinfected in a timely manner to prevent infection, such as open fractures or trauma.

How to change the dressing correctly?

The first step is cleansing. Use normal saline to rinse the wound surface. For contaminated wounds, disinfect first with iodine and then rinse. Iodine should be wiped in a spiral from the centre of the wound outwards, with a distance of >2cm from the wound edge. It should be noted that alcohol and iodine should not come into direct contact with the open wound surface, as this will destroy cell activity.

Step 2: Apply medicine. Choose the appropriate method according to the colour of the wound. Red wounds can be covered with petroleum jelly gauze to reduce pain when changing dressings. Yellow wounds can be moistened with wet dressings to inhibit bacterial growth. Black wounds should be scraped of necrotic tissue, rinsed with hydrogen peroxide and covered with hypertonic saline gauze.

Step 3: Bandage. For specific areas such as fingers and joints, make sure that movement of the fingers is restricted after the dressing is in place to avoid traction.