Discharge Instructions: Caring for Your Acticoat Dressing

Applying an Acticoat dressing

Remember to keep the dressing damp but not soaking wet. Use sterile water in a spray bottle to dampen the Acticoat at least once every 24 hours.

• Wash your hands.

• Clean and dry your wound with soap and water.

• Remove the Acticoat from the package.

• Use a clean pair of scissors to cut the Acticoat dressing to fit the shape of your burn or wound.

• Wet the Acticoat with sterile water (don't use normal saline).

• Place the Acticoat on the wound surface.

• Cover the Acticoat with a gauze dressing.

• Roll a gauze wrap loosely around the dressing to hold it in place.

• Wrap toward your body. If you are wrapping your arm, start at your hand and wrap toward your shoulder.

• As you wrap, overlap the previous layer of gauze by about ½ inch.

Removing an Acticoat dressing

In addition to changing the dressing every 3 to 7 days, you will also need to remove an Acticoat dressing if you have an MRI or a radiation treatment.

• Start with washing your hands, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Moisten the Acticoat if it sticks to your wound when you change it. Moisten only with sterile water.

• Remove the Acticoat very gently. Never pull hard or rip the dressing. You could damage the wound and slow your recovery time.

• Dispose of waste materials in a plastic bag. Wash your hands again.

Follow-up

Make a follow-up appointment as directed.

When to contact your doctor

Contact your doctor right away if you have:

• Increased redness, swelling, or warmth in the skin around the wound.

• A bad odor coming from the wound or drainage from the wound that soaks the dressing or smells bad.

• A fever above 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, or as directed by your doctor.

• Chills.

• Increasing pain.

• Bleeding from the wound.

• Skin irritation, a lot of itching, or other signs of an allergic reaction.