Should I change this dressing? Warning that photo is not pleasant!

[Hyssops]

Had day surgery on my toe 7 days ago. Hospital said to remove bandage after 7 days but leave the dressing on unless it's loose or I accidentally get it wet. They gave me spare dressings. Then in another 7 days to return to have stitches out.

It's totally dry and doesn't smell. It looks horrible obviously due to the dried blood. Leave it?

I do wish people would not give their opinion on something like this who have no medical training (by their own admission). Just don't post.

P.S by bandage, I meant dressing.

It does look a bit gruesome but I’m ex ambulance so see far worse.

definitely change the dressing and you could send the photo to a clinician at the day surgery hub.

Change it, as a qualified nurse I’m telling you to change it. It’s soaked though and doing no good at all.

Looks alright to me. There[s no redness or swelling. As others say, I think it[s just dried blood. I[m a retired physio so I[ve seen a fair amount of wounds - but I[m not a doctor or nurse.

If it's a toe, get it seen by a podiatrist.

It's just dried blood, like a giant scab. If you get it wet and pull it off you run the risk of disturbing newly forming skin. If it's dry and not hot or painful then it's ok to leave.

I had surgery on my toe a few months ago and they said to change the dressing after three days or if soaked through, I would say that qualifies. If they said to change it if it got wet then it can't be wrong for you to change it anyway? I didn't touch mine, just whipped it off and put a clean one on. Didn't wash the blood off until about a week.

Leave it alone - it looks fine

I guess I am out of the loop because what kind of surgery does one get on their toe?

Just curious as I could probably benefit from bunion surgery but I read so many conflicting reports on how much it helps versus continuous pain etc.

These surgery plasters are amazing!

I would leave it OP! Follow the instructions.