After Care Advice for Your Surgical Wound/Excision or Skin Graft

You have …… surgical wounds.

You may have no dressings and have been asked to use chloramphenicol ointment 1% over your sutures/staples, please apply thinly, until you are seen by one of the nurses in the dressing clinic. Please apply as directed by your surgeon, which will be written on the chloramphenicol ointment 1% box. If you have dressings these dressing/s need to be kept dry and kept on for 48hours and then removed. 

If you have been told you have a pressure bandage on your wound, this needs to be removed, after 48hours.

You can have a short shower, after 48 hours please avoid using high perfumed soaps and pat dry, ideally use a non-medicated shampoo, something mild like a baby shampoo/soap.

Hand hygiene is very important when you have had surgery, to reduce the risk of getting an infection. Please wash your hands before and after touching your wound/s. Only touch the wound site when cleaning and applying ointments, minimal touching is recommended.

Pain management. You have had local anaesthetic to the wound site, and this will wear off over the next few hours, the wound site might become uncomfortable, and you may see a bruise. This is not unusual around the incision site after surgery, we advise that you take regular pain relief for a few days, like paracetamol. Please only take as directed on the box. If simple pain relief is not working, you may have developed an infection and need to speak to your GP or minor injuries for advice.

If you suspect your wound to have an infection, this might be because it has become more painful, you may notice an odour, red, swollen, weeping, a yellow discharge, or you are concerned. You need to seek medical care, either from your GP or immediate care service.   

If your wound starts to bleed and will not stop after you have applied constant (without a break) pressure on the site for 10 minutes, you need to seek medical care. Either from your GP or your Emergency Department.

If you have had stiches/clips that need to be removed, you will receive a letter to invite you to a further appointment in the nurse led dressing clinic. Before attending we advise you to take a simple analgesia, such as paracetamol as directed on the box.

Light activity is recommended after surgery, try to avoid heavy lifting. Once home please rest.  Have a gentle few days and ease yourself into your usual day to day life, over the next month.

Your results will take around six to eight weeks for the results to be reported and you will receive a further letter to discuss these results with the maxillofacial doctor.

Contact numbers

We hope that you have found this information useful. If you have any questions or are worried about anything, please speak to the following Dorset County Hospital staff:

Maxillofacial secretary: Megan Hoskins 01305 255045

Department staff nurses: 01305 254400

Useful websites

NICE: Healthcare-associated infections: prevention and control in primary and community care
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg139/chapter/Key-priorities-for-implementation#standard-principles

NICE: Surgical site infections: prevention and treatment
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng125

About this leaflet

Author: Davina Leach, Registered General Nurse
Written: May 2024
Approved: April 2024
Review May 2027
Edition: 1

If you have feedback regarding the accuracy of the information contained in this leaflet, or if you would like a list of references used to develop this leaflet, please email patientinformation.leaflets@dchft.nhs.uk