When you have an injury that breaks the skin, do you always put some sort of anti-bacterial cream on it and cover it?

Always? No. I have cut myself deeply while working, and just used electrical tape to close it.

Just tape that shit up and get back to work! I’m the same way.

Never unless it’s very deep.

No.
I squeeze all the blood out, until it doesn’t run any longer, and then put a band-aid over it (I like to cover it because I work in a dusty environment).

@KNOWITALL I had some stitches here recently and the doc said to leave them uncovered (unless I’m in a situation like @rebbel) and just use soap and water. I was happy to have my own private beliefs confirmed.
It seems to me that antibacterial creams, creams of any kind, including Vaseline,seem to promote infection.

Gotta let your skin breathe and heal, I agree. I had my leg sliced about four inches but deep, I didnt use anything and no one but me could see it. The barb wire scar on my inner arm I got as a child is glaring white and probably should have had stitches but I hid it from my grands ha!

Yeah, just keep it clean and dry.
Unless it’s deep.

I try not to use bandaids too often if possible. When I was a kid, I took a gnarly fall in the parking lot while chasing my dog. Picked gravel out of both knees. Bathtub was red from all the blood.

I cleaned both knees. One knee was worse than the other one. And I didn’t have a bandaid big enough for it without the adhesive part getting on the injured area.

The knee with the deeper gouge but no bandaid healed fine. But I still have a scar from the one I put the bandaid on.

Could be another reason why the knees healed that way. But that’s my personal take-away from it.

Depends on the damage. Normally, I use the antibacterial & whether or not I cover it up depends on my upcoming activities. Most of the time, I cover any broken skin before going to bed as a precaution. Then I uncover upon arising the next morning. IF I’m going to do any unnecessary damage, it seems to happen while sleeping & while unaware; so covering while sleeping is out of an overabundance of caution!!!

Depends on the size of the wound. And I like a wound to bleed a fair amount to wash itself out.

^^^^Right? My thoughts too. Our bodies really do a hell of a job for us, don’t they.

Not always, but I often do. Not because I refuse to let a wound go uncovered, I guess that’s just what my parents did for me when I was a kid, so I’ve continued to do that to this day. Depending on the wound though, I prefer to cover it so that it doesn’t get “re-injured”, which I’ve had happen before and is always very unpleasant.

No, not always. I try to at least clean it when it happens. If I can’t clean it I try to make it bleed a little.

I had road rash in multiple places when I had my accident and even small pieces of asphalt stuck in me, and the ER did not thing to clean or treat the wounds. When I got on a floor we told the nurse they didn’t do anything (this is so many hours later) and she just sprayed some saline on it. My husband had to pull out the asphalt. One wound was quite deep and should have been sutured. It oozed for days. Total incompetence.

My only point is I had abrasions all over me that basically weren’t treated. If they had given me better treatment I probably wouldn’t have all of these scars.

When I worked retail I cut my hands constantly. Often it just got a bandaid to prevent getting blood on the clothing.

I don’t like creams, I feel they’re too thick for my skin. If I’m going to use a topical medication it’ll have to be either gel, oil, or water-based. If the wound is not that bad then I’ll just pour tea tree oil (or my expensive night serum) on it and lather some aloe vera gel to soothe it without any cover. I’ll reapply as needed. If the wound is beyond that then I’ll go to a doctor and use whatever prescribed medication they give me.

Do you find that keeping them moist, especially with an oil, tends to breed bacteria @Unofficial_Member.

Of course not, @Dutchess_III . Tea tree oil itself has natural anti bacterial properties. Unlike Vit E oil and Olive oil.

I have to. If I don’t I can, and will, get an infection, doc said something about having beta strep living on my skin one time, don’t know how true that is. I keep a tube of triple antibiotic in the glove box. The bandaid/bandage is more to keep the triple-a in the wound. Sliced the end of my thumb on some sheet metal yesterday, gooped it up and wrapped it in gauze and tape until I got home. Washed it out, let it sit open until bed then put more meds and a bandaid over it when I retired. Healing up nicely this morning. I will recover it if I think what I am doing will re-open the wound. But typing on the keyboard is not such an activity although, I will say I am having trouble with the space bar.

@Unofficial_Member Lavender Oil is another that is a good antibacterial.

Exactly, @LadyMarissa . That’s another reason why I spray Lavender essential oil mix on my pillow. It really helps me getting relax and sleep at night. Unlike Tea tree, Lavender has calming effect.