Following knee replacement, patients will have a wound that must be properly cared for. Not getting adequate wound care can increase your risk of experiencing a variety of complications. Wound care involves the right technique and the right wound care supplies to keep your wound clean and to promote healing.
Preventing Infection with Proper Wound Care
When a wound is properly cared for and kept clean, the risk of infection is much lower. This also allows you to better monitor for infection because you will be able to track how the wound looks from day to day. Healthcare workers will measure the wound and note the appearance with each dressing change. This will allow doctors to know if your current treatment plan is working. Wound care involves a disinfectant or normal saline and clean, sterile bandages.
Your surgeon will give you detailed instructions to following to ensure that your wound has what it needs to heal. However, in general, you will use the recommended products to gently clean the wound after removing the bandages. Then, you will replace the bandages with fresh ones. It is important that the area is completely dry before applying fresh bandages. Moisture can inhibit healing, so use a dry sterile gauze to gently pat the wound until all water and cleanser is removed. Once the bandage is in place, use medical tape to secure it since this tape is easier to remove from the skin at your next dressing change.
Better Healing with Proper Wound Care
Proper wound care involves using the right dressings to ensure adequate healing. When you are using the right supplies, you are going to heal faster than you would not caring for the wound. This will also help to debride the wound and keep it clean and free of pathogens so that your risk of complications is lower.
Minimizing Scarring with Proper Wound Care
You do not have to experience hard scabs for your wound to properly heal. This is a myth and minimizing scarring involves keeping the wound soft. Antibiotic ointments, when applied during the early stages of wound healing, help to keep the skin that surrounds the skin soft and pliable so that there is a lesser chance of scarring. If scarring does occur, it tends to be less than it would if these products are not used.
Once the wound has healed, you can usually apply a moisturizer to help keep your skin conditioned and healthy. This will further reduce your risk of scarring.
You can see that proper wound care is not too difficult. Just ensure that you follow all of your doctor’s advice after having knee or hip replacement in Green Bay, Appleton, or other communities in the Fox Valley.
If you would like to request a consultation with one of the orthopedic specialists at the Orthopedic & Sports Institute (OSI), please call (920) 560-1000 or request an appointment online. Additionally, OSI now offers a Walk-In Clinic at its Appleton location for non-life threatening situations that require immediate attention.
The Orthopedic & Sports Institute has convenient locations to serve you. In addition to the flagship facility in Appleton, you will find outreach clinics in New London, Ripon, Shawano, Waupaca, and the newest location serving the Green Bay area, inside the NOVO Health Clinic in De Pere.
OSI is a proud member of NOVO Health.