Do you have sensitive skin? Does even a small scrape take ages to heal and keeps getting irritated again and again. What may be small cuts for someone else might turn into days of burning, itching, redness, or eczema flare-ups for you.
For those suffering from conditions that leave their skin sensitive and irritated, wound care must go beyond basic first aid. This is especially true if you are allergic to a lot of topical creams and ointments.
You need a much gentler approach. It needs to protect not just the wound but also the skin around it, dealing with the site in a way that prevents any further issues.
1. Don’t Panic
Often, when we are injured, we tend to panic even if it is a very small cut or bruise. Stay calm, breathe, and assess the situation. Do you feel like you are hurt enough to immediately grab something that may irritate your skin even further?
In a hurry, one might grab rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. However, in some cases, it is just a small scrape, cut, or a bruise that requires no harsh treatments. In fact, these treatments might do you more harm than good.
The first step right after you get injured should be to rinse the area with lukewarm water. If you think the wound is dirty you can use a mild saline solution that will flush out the debris. Avoid harsh soaps and disinfectants at this stage; just keep the skin clean enough to prevent any infection.
Once the area is clean, use a soft, clean towel, or a piece of gauze (if you have it lying around) to pat the area dry. We suggest you invest in high quality wound dressing supplies for situations like this. Don’t rub the site as the drier the wound gets, the more irritated it will feel.
2. Choose the Right Ointment
The next step should involve choosing the right kind of protection for the wound. Although most people consider a scab to be a sign that the skin is healing (and it is), if the wound dries out it can scab fast, and these scabs can also crack and reopen especially on sensitive skin.
Don’t rush it since using the wrong ointment is just going to sting or cause an allergic reaction. We suggest opting for petroleum jelly when you can’t think of anything else. It is often a pretty solid option for most people as it can create that barrier the wound needs to hold in moisture and shield it from dirt and bacteria without any added fragrances or preservatives.
Don’t like petroleum-based products? Opt for healing balms instead and choose once that is specifically designed for sensitive or eczema-prone skin. Use only a small amount and spread it gently over the wound. Don’t lather it on as that can clog pores and just lead to product buildup.
3. Dress it, Don’t Stress It
Bandage that wound the wrong way and, before you know it, it begins to turn into an angry red, causing uncontrollable itching and a rash that looks way worse than the wound itself. We suggest you opt for a non-stick pad and couple it up with hypoallergenic tape or just use a silicone-based bandage to keep the area covered if needed.
Allergic to all kinds of adhesive? Consider wrapping gauze loosely around a non-stick pad or use tubular netting to keep that bandage in place without needing to tape it up. You must let the wound breathe and avoid suffocating it as that can lead to an infection.
Hang tight and monitor the wound. Keep changing the dressing anytime it gets damp or dirty and keep an eye out. The minute you notice something off (swelling, more redness, oozing, weird smells) get to the ER pronto and get it checked out!
4. Ah, the Tiresome Itch
If you’ve ever had chicken pox or a particularly terrible rash, you can definitely relate to this. The uncontrollable and often damaging urge to itch can rip open scabs and delay healing or introduce new bacteria to the site.
We’ll let you in on a hack. When you feel the uncontrollable itch coming on, dampen a clean compress in cold water and rinse it out, proceeding to hold it on the area for a few minutes. This will calm down any inflammation that is leading to the itch as well as distract your nerves.
Once the intensity of the itch has gone down, apply a gentle, fragrance-free cream to the wound to moisturize it. Be very careful and do not let the cream touch the healing skin, unless you are 100% sure it will not irritate the site.
For some, an antihistamine may work wonders to reduce the itch during the worst parts of the healing. However, we strongly recommend you visit a doctor at that point and check with them before taking anything. Dermatology experts at Maple Grove Dermatology, for instance, can help identify any cause for concern and recommend solutions that work fast!
5. Being Patient with It
For some, the hardest thing to do is to wait. It is to accept the fact that healing is a process and it will take some time. You may want to fast forward it through scar-reducing serums or by peeling your scabs, but that’s just going to make it worse.
As your wound begins to close you can continue moisturizing and begin adding a mineral-based sunscreen to the mix (zinc oxide or titanium oxide) to prevent dark marks or scarring. These ingredients are usually easily tolerable by sensitive skin and can also shield the soft new skin underneath.
One thing you can do to speed up the process is taking care of your food, hydration, and sleep. Eat enough protein, drink lots of water, and get your beauty sleep. Like all other organs, the skin also needs fuel and recovery time to do its job.
Healing from Within
What heals a wound? Is it just the closing of the gap and the natural process of scabbing? Not for people with sensitive skin. If your skin takes longer to heal you must protect it with additional steps and avoid doing more harm than good.
If you feel like your wounds stick around for far too long, keep reopening, or get worse even when you follow all the steps mentioned above, we suggest you visit an expert dermatologist to get the skin underneath examined further.
Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-applying-bandage-on-another-person-s-hand-6519905/
The post How to Care for Wounds on Sensitive Skin: A Gentle Approach appeared first on UrbanMatter.
