Emergency Room – Prevent Scarring and Infection

Transcript

I get a lot of questions about how to prevent scars. There’s no way to totally prevent scarring. Once you’ve had a cut, there are some ways to minimize it. The best way is to get stitches or glue, to pull the edges of the cut together, which is what you’ve now done. Next, your doctor or nurse washed the wound in the ER to prevent infection. And washing a cut with a large amount of flowing water, even tap water, is the best way to prevent infection. Preventing infection is the best way other than repairing the wound to prevent scar formation. There are some other things that can help reduce scars, including keeping the wound clean and using antibiotic ointment to prevent infection after you’ve left the ER, be sure to use sunscreen on the scar for about a year after it healed. Even if you have a dark complexion and getting the stitches out at the right time, can help reduce scarring. Remember not to use ointment on skin glue.