Wound-water contact and postoperative wound-healing

The avoiding of water-contact to the freshly closed operation-wound is an u nwritten law in surgery. In general, taking a bath or shower is not allowed before wound stich removal under the idea that early water-contact may lea d to a higher wound-infection rate. In a prospective trial 170 patients, op erated in our short-stay surgery-unit, were allowed to take a shower 24 hou rs after surgery. Full water contact of the fresh uncovered wound was accep ted. The wound-infection rate in this group was compared with the infection -rate of an historical group from our department (n = 956). Results: In the water-contact group no case of wound-infection was observed while we were observing a wound-infection-rate of 0.6 % in the other group . The difference between the two groups wasn't statistically significant (p = 0.125). Conclusion: Water-contact of the fresh operation wound 24 hours after surge ry did not increase the post-operative wound infection risk in this study.