How to clean wounds the right way
Why should one actually clean wounds? There are two important reasons why it is important to clean wounds. The one reason is that wounds heal better if there is not a lot of dirt and gravel in them, you avoid big and ugly scars and you avoid gravel growing in and cascading off. The second reason is that it significantly reduces the risk of infection. In fact, the most important thing to treat wounds where an infection has occurred is not antibiotics, but the mechanical cleaning of the wound itself. Below you can read a little about how to best take care of wounds and how to clean them in the best way for good healing and to avoid infections.
The first step when cleaning a wound is to first make sure you don't make it worse. Therefore, always start by washing your hands thoroughly and, if possible, use gloves when cleaning the wound. The best thing is to just use regular soap and water and wash your hands for at least 30 seconds, don't forget your nails and especially under your nails when you wash your hands. If the opportunity exists, also use hand sanitizer, then it is important to really soak your hands in hand sanitizer and scrub properly. Many people make the mistake of just taking a small amount of hand sanitizer and then not rubbing it around properly.
The next step is the cleaning itself. Depending on how the wound looks, this may need to be done in different ways. If there is a lot of gravel in the wound, you may need to start by applying local anesthetic to the wound. Then you have to scrub with a brush to really remove all the gravel. If you're a little more lucky, most of the dirt is in the wound and it's enough to rinse thoroughly with water or use some kind of cleaning wipe. Chlorhexidine is also a good tool for cleaning. If you are out in nature, it can be good to have some smaller capsules with table salt, these are for example in the size 30 ml which goes quite a long way, one or two of these are usually enough for quite large wounds.
Allow the wound to dry thoroughly and then apply a protective dressing. If the wound oozes, you may need some form of absorbent dressing. The easiest way is usually to attach the bandage (or the compress) as it is often called with a fixing bandage. It can seem like a jungle with all the band-aids and bandages. You can still quite easily divide these into "ready-made solutions" that contain all the parts, or where you have to buy each part separately. Both solutions have advantages and disadvantages. An all-in-one patch is quick to apply and can often take less plastic, but it doesn't always fit all wounds and you may need to carry lots of different sizes and types. The advantage of having all the parts separately, i.e. compress/abs dressing and fixation wrap or tape, is that it is much easier to adapt to different types of wounds. The compress can be cut to the appropriate size, and if there is a lot of bleeding, you can use an abs bandage instead of a compress, then just put a bandage around it and maybe tape.
Summary
- Clean your own hands thoroughly and use gloves if possible
- Clean the wound and let it dry
- Put on a protective dressing
We will post an article eventually on how to sew up a wound. This is of course best suited if you know what you are doing and work in healthcare. But there is no law that says you can't sew it together yourself.
