Q-tips?

[Sailorluna]

Hi all, yesterday I had a followup apt with the surgeon and he said he would like me to clean the fistula some with a qtip occasionally. I said ok but now I think about and think "what? really?"

Does anyone else do this. My fistula hole is kinda big now since the last cutting so it would fit in there but... yikes

 

[DustyKat]

I wouldn't. The main reasons I would give for that is...

1. You would effectively be probing the wound and that isn't recommended thing to do unless you know what you are doing and you wouldn't use a Q tip anyway.

2. You are compromising the integrity of the wound bed.

3. Cotton wool is not a desirable material to use in wounds as it leaves fibres behind.

It would be a better alternative to either have a sitz bath or if someone else was helping, get a 10ml syringe and some warm salty water and squirt the saline mix into the fistula at a fast rate.

Dusty. xxx

 

[Sailorluna]

Thanks Dusty,
I think he wants me to do it to help it not keep healing so much. It keeps healing enough (even with the seton) that it stars making a new track for better draining I guess. I like the syringe idea! I will try it. Thanks.

 

[Jennifer]

Anything used to clean an open wound should be sterile. If they want "q-tips" used then sterile ones should be provided. Back when I had my large open wound healing from the inside out (this was after my resection and not a fistula) they had me shower twice a day and scrub it out with antibacterial soap and a loofah and then repack the wound with gauze by using large "q-tips" (really a long stick with only one side having the cotton tip) but both the gauze and q-tips were sterile (pre-wrapped) and provided by the hospital. Also I only did the scrubbing in the shower, any detail cleaning along with the packing was done by my mom. I agree that having someone else do it for you would be best because they can see the area clearly while you are much too far away to see properly.