Laceration Repair Aftercare
Keep It Moist, Clean, and Covered
General information from an emergency physician. It adds to your discharge papers and does not replace them or your own doctor. What this site is and isn’t
Key Takeaways:
- Keep the repair covered for the first 24 to 48 hours.
- After that, gentle washing is usually fine. Do not scrub or soak.
- Increasing pain, warmth, swelling, redness, or pus needs reassessment.
About Your Repair
Cuts can be closed with stitches, staples, skin glue, adhesive strips, or hair apposition. The method is chosen for the wound’s location, depth, and tension. This page covers only care after repair. Questions about why a method was chosen belong with the treating clinician.
First Steps and Evidence-Based Home Care
Keep a non-stick dressing over the wound for 24 to 48 hours. After that, wash gently. Do not scrub, soak, or swim until the wound is healed as directed.
Use plain petrolatum if your discharge plan allows it. It keeps the surface moist and avoids the allergic rash sometimes caused by antibiotic ointment. Do not use hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol; both can harm healing skin cells.
Do not let the wound dry into a thick scab. Moist healing lets new skin move across the surface more easily.
Timeline and Expected Recovery Course
Mild or moderate pain should improve over 3 to 5 days. Significant pain beyond 48 to 72 hours needs reassessment. Infection most often appears 2 to 7 days after repair.
A scar changes for a long time. Early inflammation lasts about a week. New tissue grows over the next few weeks. Remodeling begins around three weeks and can continue for 1 to 2 years.
Emergency Red Flags: Return Immediately
Return to the emergency department for increasing redness, warmth, swelling, pain, pus, new numbness, inability to move a nearby finger or toe, a persistent feeling of something in the wound, or a wound over a joint that no longer fully straightens.
This list does not cover everything. Return if the wound worsens or seriously concerns you.
Reviewed September 3, 2026