After surgery, it's normal to want to do everything you can to help your incision heal well and avoid infection.
You can't eliminate every risk, but there are practical steps you can take. The most important are usually straightforward: follow your incision-care instructions, keep the area appropriately clean and protected, wash your hands before touching it, and pay attention to changes as it heals.
Your surgical team's instructions should always take priority because wound care can vary depending on your procedure and how your incision was closed.
Start with the discharge instructions you received.
Depending on your surgery, these may tell you:
Don't add extra wound-care steps simply because they seem helpful. More cleaning or more products aren't necessarily better.
Yes.
Wash your hands before changing a dressing, checking the incision closely, or touching the area as part of your instructed wound care.
Anyone helping you with incision care should do the same.
And outside of necessary care, try to avoid repeatedly touching or picking at the incision, scabs, surgical glue, strips, or sutures.
Follow the specific cleaning instructions from your surgical team.
Depending on the incision, you may eventually be able to let water run gently over it while showering. Other wounds may need different care.
Avoid scrubbing the incision unless you've specifically been instructed to do so.
Don't use alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, lotions, powders, or other products on the incision unless your healthcare team recommends them.
Often, yes — but when you can shower depends on your procedure, dressing, and incision closure.
Even after showering is allowed, soaking is different.
You may need to avoid baths, pools, and hot tubs until your incision has healed enough and your surgical team clears you.
See When Can I Shower After Surgery? for more guidance.
That depends on your surgery.
Some incisions need a dressing for a period of time. Others may be left uncovered after the initial dressing is removed.
If you were given a dressing plan, follow it rather than deciding based on how the incision looks.
Ask your surgical team if a dressing becomes wet, dirty, loose, or saturated and you aren't sure what to do.
Good overall recovery supports wound healing too.
That includes:
You don't need a complicated recovery regimen. Focus on the basics your body needs to heal.
Some redness, tenderness, swelling, or drainage can occur during normal healing, depending on the surgery.
What matters is the pattern.
Changes that are worsening rather than improving can be more concerning.
Contact your surgical team if you notice increasing redness, warmth, swelling, pain, drainage, an opening in the incision, fever, or another change they told you to watch for.
For a fuller guide, see Signs of Infection After Surgery: What to Watch For.
If you feel severely ill, have trouble breathing, become confused or faint, or believe you're experiencing a medical emergency, seek urgent medical care.
You don't have to diagnose an infection yourself.
If something looks different from what you expected — particularly if it's getting worse — contact your surgical team.
It can be useful to tell them:
That gives them more useful information than simply trying to decide whether the incision “looks infected.”
Not sure what comes next?
Recovery doesn't always happen in a straight line. Download the free SurgiNav Surgery Recovery Roadmap to understand the stages of healing and know what to expect after surgery.
The best way to reduce your risk of infection after surgery is usually to follow your wound-care instructions, keep your hands and incision appropriately clean, avoid unnecessary products or touching, and watch how the incision changes over time.
You can't prevent every infection. If your incision is becoming more red, swollen, painful, warm, or draining — or something simply doesn't seem right — contact your surgical team rather than trying to treat it yourself.
Recovery doesn't always happen in a straight line. The free SurgiNav Surgery Recovery Roadmap walks you through the stages of healing so you know what to expect and when to reach out to your care team.
Download the Free Surgery Recovery RoadmapThis article provides general educational information and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always follow the instructions provided by your healthcare team.
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Educational information only. Always follow your surgeon's instructions.