Help please dressing stuck to wound

[Annoyingsquirrels]

I posted earlier in the week about a removed fingernail surgery with stitches to the nail bed. I was told to remove the dressing after 5 days at home but am trying to do that at the moment and it is stuck to the nail bed. I have been soaking it in warm saline for 30 minutes and it has not helped. Any ideas what I should do? The dressing seems to be a layer of gauze with a soft layer over it. Both layers are stuck. Please help panicking a bit here.

The warm water should help- do you have any bath emollient like QV cream or aqueous cream? Failing that, you could call your GP and ask for a treatment room nurse appt. But I’m afraid they’d likely soak and pull off too! Maybe go to a pharmacy to get some clean non-stick dressings as if you damage the wound bed pulling off the dressing it is likely to need a new dressing on again for a bit…

Phone Dr surgery and ask to see the nurse, or at least a phone call back from them. Failing that go to a pharmacy and ask for advice. Poor you it sounds horrible!

Thank you. No emollients here unfortunately. Is it worth soaking it a bit longer?

I called the gp earlier in the week for a nurse appointment but they said nurses don't deal with dressing removal. I guess I could try a pharmacy but not sure about driving there with a soggy dressing.

painful! I would have said soaking so next call would be the chemist as they can also probably give you proper dressings if you have to recover it.

It is off! I got some hotter water and that did the trick.

Well done! You poor thing - sounds super painful.