Generally speaking, whoever applied the original wound dressing should advise how frequently it will require changing.

Thereafter, one of our nurses can advise how often your dressing should be changed depending on the type of wound and how well the wound is healing.

Wound dressings are designed to provide the most optimum conditions for wound healing, while protecting the wound from any further damage and infection. Changing the dressing properly will help the wound to heal faster and also help protect it and prevent possible infections. It is also an opportunity for one of our nurses to monitor how well the wound is healing.

Ideally the wound dressing must be kept dry. If the dressing becomes wet from any liquid or blood, it has to be changed. This is because, getting your dressing wet can help spread bacteria which might cause an infection.

Pain is subjective to personal threshold and there fore people have different levels of pain.

Depending on how the stitches have healed, how many you have and where they are on the body will influence how painful they are to remove. In general, the process for removing stitches is simple and shouldn’t hurt. You may feel a slight tugging sensation, but it should be relatively pain-free.

It is very important that you do not get your stitches removed until the wound has had sufficient time to heal. Our nurse will advise you on when you should have your stitches removed. Stitches on different parts of the body require different healing times.

If there is any specific aftercare necessary for your particular wound, the nurse will advise you. Generally speaking, you should keep the area clean and protected. There is a possibility that a scar may form where the stitches were – in this case, you should take extra care in applying high factor suncream on the area as this can help prevent skin discolouration.