What does Vaseline do for cuts, scrapes, etc.?!
Question:
What does Vaseline do for cuts, scrapes, etc.?
I had a skin biopsy done a few weeks ago and my doctor told me to change the band aid on the wound every day and clean with hydrogen peroxide and vaseline. What is the vaseline really doing? I know that the doctor said the less air that hits the open cut the better, since I will have a fairly large round scar and we want to keep it as small as possible. Is the vaseline protecting it from the air? Or something else? Just curious...
Answers:
The vaseline acts as a barrier for infection from bacteria and also prevents the wound from drying out and forming a scab. The less scabbing you have on a large wound, the smaller the scar will be, if any. I learned this from my podiatrist when I had a toenail removed. With a surface wound, doctors will actually want a scab to form and act as a seal while the skin heals. With a deeper wound, such as a biopsy, the body has to fill in much more than just skin. It needs to replace the blood vessels and any other healthy structures that were removed. If a scab were to form on a deeper wound, there is a chance that those new vessels may die and cause the wound to heal much slower.