Foul smelling scrape on DD's arm (Pic)

[FallenSky]

DD (5) fell over at school around a week ago and scraped her elbow. Didn't look too bad at the time, a few scratches. As it healed it formed a large scab over the whole area. Yesterday the scab started bleeding quite a lot, I put a new dressing on and left it until this morning. Took dressing off and the smell was awful. On the dressing and on DD's skin. The scab has disappeared and wound looks red/pink with a yellowy crust around it. I'm not an expert on wound infections but it doesn't look too alarming to me but obviously the smell has made me wonder.

Does anyone know if it's normal to smell a bit sometimes or should I be doing something else other than cleaning it and keeping it covered? (Or perhaps not covered? God, I feel stupid!)

It looks infected. Take her to the GP.

Leave it open to the air and it’ll dry out. Grazes really honk sometimes!!

If it’s hot to touch and painful then it’s infected but I’d give it a day or so personally

I would think a smell is not normal. Maybe she still had some gravel or something in there.

Give it a good clean, make sure there is no debris. I would temporarily cover with a blister plaster. If stil the same later seek GPadvice

Wouldn’t bother with the GP. Go to the pharmacist

Is the skin around it hot? That's another sign of infection.
I'd let the fresh air get to it. You can also get plasters especially for "weeping" cuts like grazes. I'd see the pharmacist before the GP.

Thanks for the responses. Skin around it doesn't feel hot, perhaps slightly warmer than the surrounding skin but that may just be as it's injured? Will keep an eye on the heat and watch to see if the redness spreads.

It's uncovered at the moment as the big dressings I had have run out so I was attempting to cover it with a pad and plasters but they keep falling off. Can pop in to pharmacy later if need be.

Leave it open to the air and it’ll dry out

Wounds shouldn’t be left to dry out. They actually need a moist environment to help heal them.
I would apply a clean dressing and monitor regularly.

Why shouldn’t wounds be left to dry

Like I said, they need a moist environment to heal. Moisture helps with cell renewal. Drying them out makes the entire healing process a lot slower.

Moist healing is supposed to cause less scarring. An hydrocolloid dressing would be good for that sort of injury. We used them for ds when he ripped his knee open several times. I don't think it looks infected

Yes, knew advice is to keep a wound moist to avoid scarring.

Definitely do pop into the Pharmacists. Healing wounds should not smell

see paragraph on odour, a rusty smell like dried blood is fine but musty or dead animal isn't