Caring for a surgical wound
Help a surgical wound heal faster
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1. CLEANSE
If recommended by your doctor, you can keep your post-op surgical wound clean by spraying the entire wound with Elastoplast Wound Spray to protect from infections. -
2. PROTECT
Protect your post-operative wound from dirt and bacteria to enable an undisturbed healing. After gently drying the skin, use the Elastoplast’s sterile XL or Sterile XXL plasters or sterile compresses to cover larger wounds. To protect your wound from water, use the Elastoplast’s sterile Aqua protect XL or Aqua protect XXL plasters.
Learn more about how to best protect larger wounds here.
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3. HEAL
To promote fast healing and reduce the risk of scarring, apply a thin layer of Elastoplast Wound Healing Ointment in alignment with your doctor once or twice a day. Continue until your post-operative wound has healed completely.
How long is the healing process?
What happens if a surgical wound gets infected?
As with any type of wound, it is important to keep an eye on healing progress and watch for signs of wound infection after surgery. Contact your doctor immediately if you experience excessive redness or swelling around the wound or sutures, unpleasant smell or discharge, or if you feel warmth.
While you may experience some post-operative pain following a procedure, these symptoms or additional pain could indicate an infection. Use Elastoplast wound dressings to protect the wound, using silver technology within the wound pad, which helps to reduce infection to surgical wounds.
Surgical wounds and scars
Scarring can occur at the end of the healing process of injuries that affect the epidermis and underlying dermis because the organism is not able to replace the destroyed, highly specialised tissue in the same way. Instead, the tissue is repaired by large amounts of newly produced collagen. To help reduce scarring, follow these simple tips:
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Help to prevent infections by keeping the wound clean.
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Protect the wound from external influences by covering it with a plaster or dressing
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Follow the principles of moist wound healing as this is known to reduce the risk of scarring.
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Avoid solarium/sun, as it may change the structure and color of fresh scars.
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Do not expose your wound to extreme temperatures such as sauna sessions, as that might disturb the healing process.
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Wear loose-fitting clothes to prevent irritation to the healing wound.
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Avoid tension from exercising or other moving activities.
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Once the surgical wound has fully healed, you can use the Elastoplast Scar Reducer patches or XL patches, which help reduce the appearance of scars, with visible results in the first 3 to 4 weeks.