Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Assessment of Acute Wound Healing using the Dorsal Subcutaneous Polyvinyl Alcohol Sponge Implantation and Excisional Tail Skin Wound Models.
Published on: March 25, 2020
[Postoperative wound healing in wound-water contact]
J Köninger1, M Russ, R Schmidt
1Abteilung für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie, Krankenhaus Bietigheim.
Unlabelled:
The avoiding of water-contact to the freshly closed operation-wound is an unwritten law in surgery. In general, taking a bath or shower is not allowed before wound stitch removal under the idea that early water-contact may lead to a higher wound-infection rate. In a prospective trial 170 patients, operated in our short-stay surgery-unit, were allowed to take a shower 24 hours after surgery. Full water contact of the fresh uncovered wound was accepted. 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 surgery did not increase the post-operative wound infection risk in this study.
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