Care of your Wound after Surgery
After surgery, your incision wound will start to heal. The wound may vary in size and number depending on the type of surgery performed. Your surgeon may have used stitches, staples, tape strips (such as Steri-Strips) or tissue glue to close the incision. You will need to keep the area clean and where necessary, change the dressing to prevent infection and encourage good healing with minimum scarring. You should watch out for signs of infection or poor healing such as;
- Redness
- Tenderness or increasing pain
- Increasing discharge from the wound site
- Increasing blood oozing from the wound
- Discharge is smelly or yellow-green in colour
- Wound is hot or tense to touch
- Fever or pain on moving
Click to view Guys&StThomas NHS Trust video on Wound Healing
Post-operative Wound Care
- Clean your wound site gently with soap and water and pat dry
- Do NOT rub, scrub or pick at your wound site
- Keep the wound site clean and dry
- Avoid creams, power or ointment on the wound site for the first month
- Avoid direct exposure to the sun for the first 6-12 months after surgery
- See your doctor or nurse during your follow up within the first 10 days for wound dressing or removal of sutures / staples where necessary
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If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention from your doctor or other professional healthcare providers. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website.