Dr Bradley Coleman
YOUR PARTNER IN SKIN CANCER PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
Wound healing after shave biosy
This photos shows the back of someone who had 3 shave biopsies 48 hrs prior. The left most biopsy site is progressing well with no surrounding erythema (redness) and no strike-through (fluid from the wound which is visible on the top of the dressing).
The right most lesion has a small amount of fluid behind that has been well absorbed by the dressing and as such the wound will still be relatively dry.
The middle lesion is more concerning. There is significant strike-through taking up most of the dressing. There is a moderate amount of blood showing though the dressing also. This dressing should be removed, and a new dressing applied. If possible, switching to a dry dressing would be better as it will help dry out the wound. If there is a concern about bleeding after changing the dressing pressure can be applied for 10 minutes over the wound. A small amount of strike-through bleeding may be visible after , but it should remain stable and not increase in size. If there is ongoing bleeding, make contact with the clinic or myself.
This photo is a close up of the middle wound from above 1 day later. The dressing has been removed and there is some erythema (redness) and small pustules. The wound above also has some erythema and pustules. This is mainly confined to where the wound was sitting under the wet dressing. This could be considered a mild and superficial infection with irritated skin. This has not reached the stage that it needs antibiotics. Once the dressing was removed and the wound could air out, the body was able to clear the infection itself.
This wound shows how the body was able to heal itself once the dressing bad been removed. The stop wound still has some “Kaltostat” stuck to it. This was put onto the wound to help absorb fluid and stop the bleeding. If can be gently washed off in the shower or we will remove it at the clinic with some dressing forceps. The wounds also show the white slough underside. At his stage we can let the wounds continue to dry out so they are easier to manage OR once the pustules have resolved and the risk of infection has settled, we can start to apply Vaseline to the wound until the slough is all gone and replace by a fresh pink scar.
In this photo (10 days post op) you can see the infection has completely resolved. No antibiotic tablets or ointments were used. You can see the erythema (redness) is improved and the wound and surrounding area are starting to look dry and crusty. This wound can now get whet in the shower/pool etc, but care needs to be taken when drying it. The wound will heal nicer with some Vaseline applied three times a day but it is not essential.
As can be seen this wound has healed well without the need of antibiotics. The most important thing this patient did was change the soggy dressing on day 3 post op.