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Benbot2000 t1_jdq3s78 wrote

Reply to comment by Bttm4FandT in Incision in my arm that doctors left open for 2 weeks after a surgery. by soapboxingdaychamp

I would think that leaving it completely open would result in a much higher risk of infection.

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bearhaas t1_jdqw3jx wrote

Understandable thought. In fact, we used to close all wounds on the battlefield during early wars. But eventually it became clear that closing the wound just traps in bacteria. Bacteria are just like us. They like warm wet places. So now standard of care is to leave infected wounds open and they heal from the bottom up. Best thing for a wound is to be draining and not accumulate.

Source: I’m a friendly surgeon

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FantasmaNaranja t1_jdsf4qn wrote

having lived near the equator im not so sure humans really like warm wet places

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theluckyfrog t1_jdr4lca wrote

All wounds have bacteria in them, but unless you've got certain comorbidities, your body is really good at using its own mechanisms to handle that, as long as all the waste products (dead white blood cells, dead tissue cells, loose bacterial cells) have someplace to go. When a wound is "open" like this, they get sloughed off the surface and absorbed by the bandages. No big deal (from your body's perspective). But if the wound is closed, all that stuff just collects in it, and you get an abscess which prevents further healing, causes pain and inflammation, and can lead to sepsis if the bacteria gets into adjacent blood vessels. It's like the difference between taking your trash out on a regular basis or keeping all of that trash in your kitchen as it rots.

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anewconvert t1_jdrq72b wrote

Bacteria aren’t smart. They don’t think “let’s go over there to eat”. They go from high pressure to low pressure (lots of bacteria to fewer bacteria).

Basically If you leave the wound open the bacteria can’t burrow into healthy tissue. They are met by a host of immune cells and connective tissue that makes the process hard. If you close the wound you trap the bacteria in a warm, wet space with plenty of food. They will multiply and pressure will build up and start separating the tissues and the bacteria will move into that new area. That’s an infection. If they have somewhere else to go that is no longer an infection. Leave the wound open and it will heal towards to skin, then the skin will heal over the healthy tissue and there will be no pocket for bacteria to hide in. This is a VERY simplistic way of describing the process.

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squishymelon t1_jdqnnhd wrote

You remove the gauze 1-2 times a day and when you pull it out it takes a lot of the gunk out with it which helps to clean the wound

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