Wound advice

[User5274959]

Dd grazed her knees badly last Wednesday, so 4 days ago.
It was on a rough tarmac road so there was grit in the wound but I did my best to clean it by washing it with water and removing visible bits.

It "wept" yellow tinged liquid from the next day and is still weeping now. It also now smells a bit cheesy when we take the plaster off.

Have attached a photo.
Don't think there's loads of redness other than from the plaster adhesive.

Do we think it's all good and part of the natural healing process? Or needs some attention,

Am thinking I could show the pharmacist tomorrow?

I don't think the photo has been approved yet, but based on your description I would be bathing it each night in a dilute solution of TCP. If it is too concentrated it will sting. However it would also be good to see pharmacist.

It doesn’t look too bad to me. I would leave the plaster off, let the air get to it.

I don't think it looks that bad either but I would bathe it with the diluted tcp.

I agree that leaving the plaster off will help it dry out but it will also potentially get banged or knocked so I would keep one on at school.

As pp have said: dilute TCP rinse (probably am and pm) AND take the plaster off.

It needs to dry out. Leave it open without a plaster. Other than that I would leave it be.

I'd bathe it in salty water and let it dry out without a plaster. Ouch x

Whilst leaving a plaster off will let it dry, it will also crack and bleed. When my child had similar i put a hydrocolloid dressing on which the minor injuries unit said was the right thing to do.

bathe it first with diluted dettol

The advice these days is to keep a wound moist for optimal healing as opposed to leaving it to air dry. The moisture aids healing and prevents scarring and also obviously keeps germs out. It is a bit counter intuitive and it does tend to go a bit yucky. I think that wound looks ok and the yellow is normal as is the smell as long as it is not really unpleasant. I would keep what you are doing but keep a close eye. Might be worth asking a pharmacist for an appropriate dressing - as a pp mentioned, hydrocolloid are very good.

Disclaimer - I am not a HCP but unfortunately have a lot of experience of wound healing.

Generally antiseptics should not be used to clean wounds.

They are irritant and can actually slow down wound healing.

In fact minimal cleaning is best - the idea is to maintain a warm, moist environment that has a stable temperature and PH to allow healing. Cleaning cools the wound /messes up the PH and if you use a cloth/gauze you can actually destroy the wound bed and contaminate it with fibres.

Hard to assess from the photo but looks okay. If you're worried a pharmacist looking at it in person is always a good call.

Signs of infection are :increasing pain, spreading redness including streaks, increasing swelling, reduced mobility, heat, pus (pale/yellow/green opaque) and becoming systemically unwell.

This, is the way, apart from the diluted dettol (i hope to god you don't mean bleach!?)

Wash, gentle scrub, rinse, rinse, rinse. Then dont touch it again other than to change the dressing.

Hydrocolloid dressing, change as required.