If you are injured and have an open wound then you want to make sure that you don’t get an infection. An infection has the potential to greatly extend the healing time of an injury and cause health problems too. Here’s a handy guide to reducing the potential for this happening.
Clean it out
As soon as you are injured and it breaks the skin, you should do your best to wash it out. The item that caused the injury was most likely not sterile and can introduce dangerous particles into your bloodstream. This will then cause a reaction within your body, to fight off these foreign particles.
If this response isn’t enough to get rid of these particles, or there’s still a foreign body in the wound, an infection can occur. Make sure you’re cleaning out the entire area properly, especially if something like small shards of glass or plastic are involved in the wound.
Use Antibiotic Ointment
An ointment with antibiotic properties will support your immune system in fighting off those germs. You can get these without a prescription, for example these MFASCO ointments which you can stock up on and add them to your first aid kit. These ointments can often mean the difference between safe healing and an infection, so make sure you have them to hand when you need them.
Dress the Wound
Using a plaster or a bandage, you’ll want to protect the wound from the outside world. After you’ve cleaned it and applied ointment it’s time to cover it up to keep it that way. With a covering in place, you won’t get fluff and dirt touching the wound and potentially causing an issue.
When dressing a wound, wash your hands and use sterile gloves. If you don’t do so then you run the risk of contaminating the actual dressing, which again increases the risk of infection. You don’t want a dirty bandage coming into contact with this wound regularly.
Be Vigilant
Checking on the wound is also important, as you want to be able to tell if there’s an infection or inflammation. This will allow you to seek medical help early on, which reduces the risk of the infection really taking hold. You can call up your doctor and describe the injury, then they’ll be able to tell you if the level of inflammation is normal.
You should be changing the dressing and applying ointment regularly, so this gives you a good chance to see how the wound is healing. If it looks inflamed or is taking a long time to heal then it might be time to consider seeing your doctor for further advice.
Infection is no laughing matter, as it can lead to a whole host of other problems. In this case, prevention is very much better than a cure, as it’s much easier to avoid an infection than to treat it. Just keep the wound clean, covered and treated if you want the best chance of dodging an infection.
