The role of wound care ointment

The core function of wound care ointment is to speed up wound healing while minimizing the probability of scars and pigmentation by building a closed and moist healing environment, blocking external pollution, and intervening in targeted wound reactions.

I have been in the wound dressing room of a tertiary hospital for half a year, and I have seen too many people misunderstanding this thing. They either think it is an IQ tax, or they think it can be applied to any wound. In fact, there are many ways to apply it. Last month, I met a young man who fell on his knee while riding an electric scooter and scratched a large piece of his skin. I applied iodophor three times a day at home and left it to dry. A thick scab formed, which cracked and oozed pus whenever he moved. It took 18 days and still not healed. When he came here, his trouser legs were stuck to the scab, which made him gasp. We cleaned the scab, applied a nursing ointment containing silver ions, and wrapped it with a sterile dressing. We changed it every two days. It completely healed in 7 days, and no raised scars were left.

Many people think that wounds should be left to dry in order to dry quickly. There has been a consensus in the field of wounds more than ten years ago: a moist and closed environment heals at least 30% faster than a dry and scabbed environment, and the probability of scarring can be reduced by half. To put it simply, the nursing ointment creates a small greenhouse with constant temperature and humidity for the wound. Dust and bacteria from the outside cannot touch it. The new cells inside do not need to be hard on the thick scab, but can grow in a flat direction. Naturally, it heals quickly and looks good.

Speaking of this, someone must have asked, is it true that the online nursing cream contains hormones and antibiotics and is not good for application? In fact, there is no unified conclusion in this industry. Most dermatologists believe that if the wound is prone to scarring, short-term use of a nursing cream containing weak hormones can suppress the activity of fibroblasts and avoid the formation of convex scars. However, most wound surgeons believe that for ordinary superficial wounds, basic products without hormones and antibiotics are enough. After all, additional ingredients may stimulate the delicate new epithelium and slow down the healing speed. My own experience is that as long as there are no scars and no obvious swelling or swelling in the wound, there is really no need to buy expensive products with special effects.

Of course, not all wounds are suitable for applying nursing cream. If you are stuck by a rusty nail or bitten by an animal, or have a deep and narrow wound, you should go to the hospital immediately for debridement, tetanus/rabies vaccine, and nursing cream. They are only used during the subsequent wound recovery stage. Don’t reverse the priorities and delay things.

Last summer at my cousin’s house, the baby bumped his forehead while running and playing, which resulted in a big bruise. The old man insisted on applying red lotion and letting it dry, otherwise he would have pus. I stopped him and applied a basic Vaseline-based care ointment and applied it with a sterile patch. After three days, the scabs fell off without leaving any marks. Compared to her boss, who had been in the same position a few years ago, thick scabs formed after drying. There is still a light brown mark on his forehead. When I meet people, I tell everyone that they didn’t listen to my fault at that time.

When I change dressings for patients, I often say that there is really no need to buy hundreds of yuan of imported care cream. For ordinary superficial abrasions and first-degree burns, a dozen yuan of basic care cream containing Vaseline is enough; if it is a postoperative suture wound or a chronic wound of a diabetic patient, just choose a targeted model containing growth factors and silver ions according to the doctor's advice, and the money should be spent on the cutting edge.

In the final analysis, wound care ointment is essentially a tool to assist healing. Only by choosing the right type and using it at the right time can it have the greatest effect. If you are not sure what to use on your wound, it is much more reliable to ask a nurse at a community hospital to take a look than to search blindly for a long time on the Internet.