How to tell if a wound is healing or infected

and its time to talk to a wound care specialist Alyssa said
Keeping track of your wound and the stage of healing its in can help to identify whether its a healing or nonhealing wound. Sign of healing include
Clotting blood at the wound
Scabbing
Swelling
Scarring
How to heal a wound that wont close
Open wounds and wounds that are slow to heal should be looked at by a health care provider.
If your wound is nonhealing or slowhealing are considered chronic wounds. There are many options your provider may suggest including oral prescription medication to improve blood flow topical prescriptions to help clear up any infection wound debridement hyperbaric oxygen treatment or therapy to reduce swelling Alyssa said.
Wound debridement is a process of removing dead or infected tissue from around a wound. This helps a wound to heal faster and ensures that healthy tissue can grow.
If you have a wound that continuously bleeds or has shown no signs of closing after a day its important to talk to a health care provider Alyssa said.
Signs a wound is infected
Signs of wound infection should be taken seriously.
Fever and chills Any time a fever is present your body is likely fighting off an infection. If youre running a temperature talk to your health care provider.
Increased pain or bleeding from wound Sure wounds hurt but they shouldnt get progressively more painful.
Discolored green yellow or brown liquid or pus coming from wound
Foul smelling
Nausea and vomiting
How to avoid wound infection
There are some things you can do to help ensure a wound heals fast and properly.
Change wound dressings often how long you keep a wound covered depends on the injury but five days is a good start. Theres a misconception that wounds need to be left open to air out but its best to keep wounds covered Alyssa said.
Keep your wound clean Wounds
should be cleansed with warm water and a gentle soap.
Monitor your wound closely
Use antiseptic like rubbing alcohol on a fresh wound as soon as possible
Antibiotic ointments such a Neosporin and Bacitracin can be helpful early on to prevent infection but are not appropriate to use on chronic wounds or noninfected wounds Alyssa said.
In wound care we have a simple adage of if its wet dry it and if its dry wet it.
If youve seen a provider for your wound be sure to follow their directions exactly.