I had a closed surgery over a year ago, but the scar kept opening, so I finally went to a wound care center. The doctor is making me pack with gauze dipped in dakin solution, but I'm supposed to use saline to rinse the wound out first. Unfortunately when I go to the pharmacy, all I see is an expensive can of saline that has a spray top. I don't know where to find cheaper saline that I can pour into a bottle to use for irrigation. Any ideas? Also, I'm having a really hard time packing the wound myself. It's pretty small, under half an inch, and I can barely get the quarter inch gauze inside. Any tips?
my dr. prescribed a large bottle of saline for me. it was pretty cheap even without insurance. I would ask your dr. to do the same. I'm surprised he didnt....i dont know what dakin solution is but my instructions were to use the saline to soak the gauze and just rinse with water in the shower...im sure you could use the saline to rinse as well.
Thanks, John. I just talked to a pharmacist, and he said basically the same thing. I should have my doctor prescribe saline for me. Unfortunately that won't be until Tuesday because of the Memorial Day holiday, so I'm stuck with expensive spray bottle saline. The dakin's is basically a slightly stronger cleanser than saline. I'm supposed to clean the wound with it, then rinse with saline, then pack with dakin-soaked gauze. It doesn't hurt much, so I'll stick with it.
You can make a saline solution yourself. Boil a pint of water and put a 5ml teaspoon of salt in it. Let it cool and away you go, Saline solution is just sterile water with a 9% salt added. The precise ratio of salt isn't hugely important, more dilute better than two strong. Get a 20ml syringe and use it to do the irrigation. Plain cool boiled water will do too. Clean is the aim. Cat
