Minor wounds — cuts, grazes, burns and blisters — are an everyday occurrence. Managing them correctly makes the difference between clean, rapid healing and a wound that becomes infected or heals poorly. Here’s the pharmacist’s guide to wound care at home.

Step 1: Stop the Bleeding

Apply direct pressure with a clean cloth or gauze pad for 5–10 minutes without lifting (lifting disturbs the forming clot). Elevate the injured area above heart level to reduce blood pressure to the wound site. Cuts that don’t stop bleeding after 15 minutes of firm pressure, or that are gaping (wound edges won’t stay together), may need medical attention for closure.

Step 2: Cleaning the Wound

The priority is removing debris, bacteria and foreign material. Irrigate thoroughly with clean running water for at least 5 minutes. Saline wound wash (sterile saline solution) is preferable when available — it doesn’t damage healing tissue as strongly as antiseptics can. If debris is embedded and won’t wash out, seek medical attention rather than digging — retained foreign bodies cause persistent infection. Antiseptic solution (chlorhexidine or iodine) can be used on the surrounding skin area, but is no longer recommended for direct wound irrigation in current clinical guidelines — antiseptics slow healing by damaging the new cells growing across the wound bed.

Step 3: Dressing the Wound

Choose the right dressing for the wound type. Standard plasters — for small, shallow cuts. Hydrocolloid dressings (Compeed, Actilite) — for moderate wounds, blisters, or those with low-to-moderate exudate. They maintain a moist healing environment and are significantly better for healing than traditional dry dressings — moist wound healing produces faster healing with less scarring. Change only when the dressing is fully saturated or lifting. Non-adherent dressings (Melolin, Mepore) — for medium-to-large wounds; don’t stick to the wound bed. Foam dressings — for wounds with significant exudate. Wound closure strips (Steri-Strip) — for gaping clean-cut wounds that don’t quite need suturing.

Signs of Wound Infection

Increasing (not decreasing) redness and swelling after 24–48 hours, warmth, pus or cloudy discharge, increasing rather than improving pain, red streaking spreading from the wound (lymphangitis — indicates the infection is spreading), fever. Infected wounds require medical assessment and usually antibiotic treatment. Don’t attempt to squeeze out pus from a wound — it can drive infection deeper.

Browse First Aid products and Antiseptics at Huncoat Pharmacy. Related: Children’s Health.

At Huncoat Pharmacy: Pharmacy First infected wound treatment, Browse antiseptics & first aid.