ADVICE AFTER EXCISION / FLAP / GRAFT
Compassionate Care for Every Stage of Life
ADVICE AFTER EXCISION / FLAP / GRAFT
DRESSING
Removal of Sutures: 3-5 days / 5-7 days / 7-10 days / 10-14 days.
Dressing – if NO external stitches:
- Leave the dressing on for a week.
- Then remove and tape the wound.
Dressing – if external stitches:
- Leave on until stitches removed.
- Once removed, tape the wound.
- Keep the dressing dry. Replace if wet. Watch for symptoms of infection.
- Treat the wound with care; try not to knock or scrape the area. Contact- sports or exercises that stretch the wound are best avoided entirely for a couple of weeks and then slowly re-introduced as directed.
- If you have a bandage that you feel is too tight, please contact the appropriate number immediately.
NB: A small ‘pimple’ after a month-or-two may indicate an undissolved deep stitch. It is not an infection. Please contact the clinic.
INFECTION
If you experience any of the following, please contact the appropriate phone number listed in this page
- Redness (aside from the naturally occurring red rim to any wound)
- Increasing pain
- Swelling
- Smelliness
- Pus in/around the wound
- Excessive bleeding – ie. more than a ‘smudge’ on the dressing
- General temperature/fever
- At the first sign of infection, please dab site with an antiseptic (e.g. Dettol or Iodine).
- If you think that healing is not going as planned, please contact the clinic.
CLEANING
- You may (if needed) wash the area gently. Soap & water or salty water is best. Pat dry gently.
TAPING
- Taping your wound is vital to how the scar eventually looks, as it prevents scar stretch.
- Use Micropore ‘paper’ tape or Fixomull tape (available at pharmacies)
- Place the tape at right angles to the line of the scar – as if you are pulling the edges of the wound together.
- Please tape for 1-6 months, as directed by me, based on surgery and site.
- Shower / bathe as normal with this tape in place. Pat dry. Replace tape only when looking ‘scruffy’.
- Place thicker ‘Elastoplast’ tape on top of the Micropore/Fixomull if you are undertaking an activity/sport that may stretch the wound.
BLEEDING
- If you take daily aspirin – continue. Please do not use aspirin purely for pain-control as it may cause bleeding.
- Drinking alcohol may cause bleeding. Please refrain for 2 days after surgery. - There may be bruising around & below the wound site. This is normal.
- Bleeding is best controlled by firm, steady pressure on the wound and elevation for 15mins. After this, please gently clean the wound and change the dressing. If this has not controlled bleeding, please contact me.
PAIN
- This treatment, apart from stinging at the time, may be uncomfortable for several hours afterwards. Paracetamol (‘Panadol’) should adequately control this.
- Increasing pain – after the first 48hrs – can be an early sign of infection.
OUTCOME
- I usually phone with your result. Please call the clinic if you have heard nothing after 1 week.
- Do not judge the scar as a 'final cosmetic result' until 12-24 months have passed. There is a great deal of skin healing and regeneration that occurs during this period, after the initial phase of simple closure has occurred.
NEED MORE HELP?
We're here for your well-being, always.
Clinic Address
Shop 5, 115 – 117 Buckley Road, Burpengary East QLD 4505
Email Support
reception@bemedicalcentre.com.au
Call Us
7 3186 4345 For urgent after-hours care, please contact: 134 100 (Hello Home Doctors)