Confused....advice from a nurse please!

Yoda · April 25, 2006

I am getting so many mixed signals (not necessarily from here...but from what people around me and "old wives tales") about whether to leave my incisions covered or not.

Kay, I was banded on 21 Apr. I had my first shower (as recommended by Dr) on 24 Apr. After the incisions air dryed, I put big bandaids on them just to keep them covered so they aren't exposed to "dirt" (you know what I mean...no, I"m not rolling around on the lawn!). But the other half of me tells me I should not have bandaids on...that I should leave them exposed to the air to promote healing. HELP!!!

What is the correct method? I need a professional opinion on the "way to go". I don't want to slow down the process and don't want to keep them covered if that isn't the best thing.

You RNs out there...what did you do?

StrawartS · April 25, 2006

I'm the daughter of an RN...does that count? As long as your steri strips are in place, I wouldn't worry about any extra bandages. If your scars are oozing, you might want to cover them just so you won't mess up your clothes, but I think most of us just left the steri strips alone, and we were fine.

legallyKristin · April 25, 2006

Mom's an RN. They need to be allowed to dry out in order to speed up the healing process. I also had steri strips and thought that neosporin would speed up the healing, but was promptly told that all that does is keep the incision moist and keeps the incision from healing. Keeping clothes on should be enough to keep the dirt out.

Kristin :confused:

JanetC · April 25, 2006

Not in any way related to an RN, heh, but our surgeon told us we could take the bandaids off & leave them off after 24 hours. The steri-strips we were to leave on until they fell off (took about a week). Mikey still had one on when we went for our 7 day check-up, lol. The surgeon pulled it off for him. :confused:

Yoda · April 25, 2006

Great. Tks all! I did take the bandaids off and feel much better about it!

sunshinenh · April 25, 2006

I am a RN and always instruct my patients that unless there is drainage to leave things open to the air as possible.

waterlily1072 · April 26, 2006

Well I was afraid to pull anything off, bandaids or steristrips and they were still there at my one week post op. Surgein pulled off the bandaids and some of the sterisstrips as well and told me to work on the others later that day. LOL.

He said they needed air to heal faster