Wound Care

If you did not have a splint on immediately following your surgery, you may remove your operative dressing and get your wound wet in the shower or sink.

YOu must leave your operative dressing on for a minimum of 24-48 hours after surgery before getting the incision wet.

Getting the incision wet means taking a normal shower or washing your hands normally in the sink before a meal or after using the restroom.  Use normal soap and water, blot the wound dry, and apply a clean, dry bandage. 

Do not apply any creams, lotions, salves or other things to the wound.

Your skin around the incision will appear dry. That is okay.  Palm wounds in particular will have some flaking of the top layers of dry dead skin.  That is also fine.  There will likely be some crusting or scabbing, especially on palm wounds.  This is expected.

While you may wash the skin normally, remember that it is not normal skin.

 If you are not gentle with the wound, it may split open or you may get an infection.  While these seldom develop into serious or long-term problems, wound opening (dehiscence) or local infections are annoying and best avoided.

Be particularly careful in dirty situations

These include, but are not limited to, the gym, sauna, steam room, washing dishes, cleaning toilets, handling raw meat.  You may do gym activities that do not bring the wound into contact with any equipment.  Be sure to keep the incision covered for at least 2 weeks and wash frequently while working out as even the best gyms are dirty places.  Avoid saunas, steam room,s washing dishes, cleaning toilets, handling raw meat completely for the first 2 weeks until your wound heals.

Stitches (sutures)

Many of the sutures used are dissolvable (absorbable) and will fall out on their own, though this may take several weeks.  These stitches are honey-colored. Blue stitches or metal staples are not dissolvable and will need to be removed in the office 10-14 days after surgery.