Resolved question:
I have a wound on my left thigh. This was caused by a scraping of the skin when i had a fall from my two-wheeler. Met the doc and she did the dressing yesterday and asked me to remove it the next day. But now when i try to remove it the cotton seems to have stuck to the skin. And removing it is peeling the skin too. What should i do? Shall i remove the cotton or shall i leave it to get dried and fall on its own
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Family Physician-GP
Hello,
Thank you for your query at DoctorSpring .
I understand that you have sustained a wound over the left thigh and you have problem while removing the dressing . That should not be much of a problem . As your doctor has advised you , it is best to remove the dressing than wait for it to fall off as there is a high chance of increasing wound infection .
Wound healing occurs in 3 stages namely :
a)Inflammatory phase - following an injury , the blood vessels at the site of the wound contract and result in clot formation . Once the clot is formed , the blood vessels dilate and white blood cells fight against the microbes . Here signs of inflammation like redness , swelling , warmth are seen .
b) Proliferation phase - This phase deals with rebuilding of new granulation tissue with collagen and blood vessels known as Angiogenesis .
c) Maturation phase - is the last phase where the wound gets closed .
However wound healing may be delayed due to certain factors like infection , dead skin , hemorrhage . In regard to your question , it would be best to remove the cotton gently using normal saline solution or moisten the cotton with water . It is much easier to remove it through this method . You could also trickle water while removing the cotton . It is not a problem if a little skin comes along while removing it . once it is removed , you can use a topical application like Betadine cream twice a day for 5 days over the wound .
Hope this helps .
Thank you .