Patient guide to wounds

About wounds

Wounds can happen in many different ways. Whatever caused the wound, it is important to give the skin the best conditions for healing. Skin has an impressive ability to heal itself, and you can support this process by caring for the wound correctly.

Small wound covered with a clean dressing after treatment.

Treating wounds at home

When you have been seen at the clinic, your healthcare professional has assessed how best to care for your wound or wounds. You will also have received spoken information about treatment.

Below is general advice on what to watch for at home.

General advice

It is important to keep the dressing clean and dry. The area with the wound should also be kept reasonably still to give the skin good conditions for healing.

Dressing or plaster

The dressing or plaster you have been given needs to be changed. The clinic has told you how often to do this.

However, you may need to change the dressing earlier than planned.

Change the dressing if:

• It becomes dirty with soil, liquid or anything else.
• It becomes damaged or no longer seals properly.
• Fluid from the wound soaks through it.

Follow-up

A follow-up may have been arranged at the clinic or with a wound care nurse or community nurse.

If no follow-up is planned, you will have been told how to care for your wound yourself.

Contact the clinic if

Contact the clinic if you notice signs of infection in the wound.

Signs of infection may include:

• Redness around the wound

• Warmth in the skin around the wound

• Swelling of the area

• Thick, yellowish fluid from the wound (pus)

• Increasing pain from the wound

• An unpleasant smell from the wound

• Fever with no other clear cause

• The wound produces a lot of fluid and you need to change the dressing more often than expected

• Healing is not progressing

• You are unsure how to care for the wound

Clinically updated 10 March 2026