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AB Woundcare, Boksburg (2026)

05/11/2026

Topic: NPWT, what happens at a dressing change and how family can help

If someone in your family is on a wound pump, the dressing changes happen every two to three days. Here is what to expect, and how you can make it easier.

What happens at a change

🔹 The pump is switched off and the canister and tubing are checked
🔹 The old drape and foam are removed slowly. If the foam has stuck, a little saline softens it first
🔹 The wound is cleaned and looked at properly: size, depth, the tissue in the base, the fluid and the skin around it
🔹 It is measured, and photographed with consent, so progress is recorded and not guessed
🔹 The surrounding skin is protected, a new piece of foam is cut to size, the drape is sealed and the pump goes back on
🔹 The seal is checked before the nurse leaves. The foam should shrink and go firm

It usually takes 30 to 60 minutes.

Is it painful? It can be uncomfortable, especially when the foam comes out. Pain relief about 30 to 60 minutes before the change, if the patient uses it, makes a big difference. Always tell the nurse if it hurts. There are ways to make it easier.

How family can help

🔹 Have a clean, clear surface ready near the bed, and good light
🔹 Keep pets and children out of the room for the change
🔹 Have the next canister and charger nearby
🔹 Write down anything you noticed since the last visit: alarms, leaks, pain, fluid changes, fever
🔹 Ask to be shown how to check the seal and what the alarms mean, if you have not been shown already

A good dressing change is a partnership between the nurse, the patient and the family. The family often notices things first.

Share this with someone looking after a family member on a wound pump.

Follow the page for free, plain-language wound care, now and from March in Mossel Bay.

📞 082 824 7994

04/11/2026

Diabetes, why blood sugar decides how fast a wound heals

People with diabetes are often told their wound "will just take longer". That is true, but it hides the part you can actually do something about.

High blood sugar slows healing in several ways at once.

🔹 It weakens the immune response. The cells that fight infection work more slowly when glucose is high, so a small wound can become infected more easily
🔹 It damages small blood vessels, which means less oxygen and fewer nutrients reach the wound
🔹 It affects how new tissue forms. Collagen, the scaffolding of new skin, is weaker
🔹 It hides the warning signs. Nerve damage can mean less pain, and the usual signs of infection may be muted

What this means for you

🔹 When you have a wound, your blood sugar is part of the treatment. It is not a separate matter for your doctor. It is part of how that wound heals
🔹 Check more often while a wound is healing. Infection itself pushes sugar up, so a sudden rise in your readings can be the first sign that a wound is infected
🔹 Take your medication as prescribed, even when you do not feel ill
🔹 Eat regular meals with protein. Skipping meals makes sugar swing up and down, and the wound needs building material
🔹 Talk to your doctor or clinic if your readings are higher than your agreed targets while you have a wound. It may need a short-term change in your treatment

One honest point. No dressing, however expensive, can make up for blood sugar that is out of control. The two work together. Get both right and even a stubborn wound often starts moving.

Tag someone in your family who has diabetes and a wound that has been "taking its time".

Follow the page for free diabetic foot and wound advice.

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03/11/2026

Caring for a bedbound parent at home, a daily skin routine

If you are caring for a parent or a spouse who spends most of the day in bed or in a chair, this is the routine that keeps their skin intact. It takes about ten minutes a day, and it prevents more wounds than any cream or mattress.

Morning

🔹 Look at the pressure points while you help them wash or dress: heels, tailbone, hips, elbows, shoulder blades, the back of the head and the ears
🔹 Press lightly on any red patch. If it goes pale and then pink again, the blood is flowing. If it stays red, that is the first stage of a pressure injury, and that spot must be kept off pressure until it settles. On darker skin, look for purple or dark areas, and feel for patches that are warmer, cooler, firmer or softer than the skin around them
🔹 Clean gently with warm water and a mild, soap-free wash. Pat dry, especially in the skin folds

Through the day

🔹 Turn every two hours in bed. Use pillows to tilt them slightly onto one side, not flat on the hip bone
🔹 Float the heels with a pillow under the calves
🔹 In a chair, a shift or lean every 15 to 30 minutes
🔹 Offer fluids often. Older people often do not feel thirsty
🔹 Protein at every meal. An egg, a glass of milk, maas, peanut butter

If there is incontinence

🔹 Change pads promptly and clean the skin straight away
🔹 A barrier cream on the skin protects it from moisture. Use a thin layer, not a thick paste
🔹 Moisture and pressure together break skin down far faster than either one on its own

Look after yourself too. Use a slide sheet and get help with turning. Do not lift someone on your own if they cannot help you. An injured carer helps nobody.

Caring at home is hard, often invisible work. If you are doing it, it matters.

Share this with a brother or sister who shares the care. It helps when everyone does it the same way.

Follow the page for more support for home carers, now and in Mossel Bay from March.

📞 082 824 7994

02/11/2026

Summer means braais, hot oil, kettles, car radiators and sunburn. Burns are one of the most common injuries at home, and one of the most badly treated. Here is what to do.

The rule that matters most: cool running water for a full 20 minutes.

Not ice. Not butter. Not toothpaste. Cool tap water, running over the burn, for 20 minutes by the clock. It feels like far too long. It is not. It limits how deep the burn goes, and it works best in the first three hours after the burn, so it is still worth doing even if some time has passed.

Step by step

🔹 Stop the burning. Move away from the heat. Remove rings, watches and tight clothing near the burn quickly, before it swells. Do not pull off anything that is stuck to the skin
🔹 Cool it under cool running water for 20 minutes. Keep the rest of the person warm, especially children and older people
🔹 Cover it loosely with cling film, laid over the burn in strips, not wrapped tightly around a limb. A clean plastic bag works for a hand
🔹 Pain relief such as paracetamol, if it is safe for that person
🔹 Do not burst blisters. They are a sterile dressing your body made for free

Get medical help the same day if

🔸 The burn is bigger than the person's palm
🔸 It is on the face, hands, feet, ge****ls, or over a joint
🔸 It is deep, white, leathery, charred, or strangely painless
🔸 It is from a chemical or electricity
🔸 It is on a baby, a young child, an older person, or someone with diabetes 🔸 There was smoke or fire in a closed space. Call 112

Sunburn counts too. Blistering sunburn is a burn. Cool showers, loose clothes, plenty of water, and do not peel the skin.

Save this post before the December holidays. Share it with the braai master in your family.

Follow the page for free, practical first aid and wound care, from Boksburg now and Mossel Bay from March.

📞 082 824 7994

31/10/2026

Saturday post, and a change of pace. Here are five questions I get asked every week, answered in a line or two.

1. How long should a wound take to heal? A small, clean cut usually settles in one to two weeks. If a wound has not visibly improved in two weeks, or is not healed in four, it needs a proper assessment. It is not "just slow".

2. It itches. Is that a bad sign? Usually the opposite. Itching is a normal part of healing. But if the itch comes with spreading redness, heat, a rash under the tape or blisters, it may be an infection or an allergy to the adhesive. Get it looked at.

3. Should I cover it at night? Yes. Keep the wound covered until it is fully closed, unless you have been told otherwise. Leave it open at night and it dries out and picks up whatever is on the sheets.

4. Can I use a plaster on everything? On a small, clean, dry cut, fine. Not on a weeping wound, not on fragile older skin, and not on a wound that needs a dressing that can absorb fluid. Plasters are the right answer to one kind of wound only.

5. Why does my leg or foot hurt more at night? This one is important. Pain in the foot or leg at night that eases when you hang the leg over the side of the bed can mean the blood supply is poor. Do not ignore it, especially with a wound or ulcer on that leg. Get your circulation checked.

Your question could be next. Put it in the comments. Anything I can answer publicly becomes a post, so you are also helping the person who was too shy to ask.

Where in the Garden Route are you? Say your town, and follow the page so the answers reach you.

Want to be the first to hear when we open in Mossel Bay in March? WhatsApp MOSSEL to 082 824 7994.

Het jy 'n vraag? Vra gerus in Afrikaans.

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30/10/2026

Living near the sea, one of the first questions I get is: "Can I still swim?" It deserves a proper answer, because the wrong one sends people back to the nurse with an infection.

Showering

Yes, in most cases, but the dressing must stay dry unless it is waterproof.

🔹 Use a purpose-made waterproof cover for a limb, or cling film sealed with tape both above and below the dressing. The cover, not the tape, must do the work
🔹 Keep the wound out of the direct spray
🔹 Shower quickly, then check the dressing afterwards. If any water got in, change it
🔹 Never shower with negative pressure therapy unless your nurse has shown you how

Baths. Avoid soaking an open wound, or a wound with fresh stitches, unless you have been told you may. A bath softens the healing tissue and the dressing.

Swimming pools. Not until the wound is fully closed and dry, even if the water is chlorinated. Chlorine does not make a wound safe, and a wet dressing is a warm, damp place for bacteria.

The sea, tidal pools, lagoons, estuaries and rivers. The most important one. Do not go in with any open wound, graze, blister, or fresh stitches. Natural water carries far more bacteria than a pool, and infections that start in it can move fast. The lagoon at your holiday spot is not clean water.

When can I swim again?

🔹 The wound has completely closed over, with no scab lifting and no weeping
🔹 Your nurse or surgeon has said yes
🔹 For a surgical wound, that is usually only after the stitches are out and the wound has sealed. Ask, because it depends on the wound

A diabetic foot ulcer, a leg ulcer or a pressure injury is not for swimming, regardless of the dressing.

This is not what people want to hear in December, but a few weeks out of the water is better than six weeks with an infection.

Share this with the holiday makers in your family.

Follow the page for free advice you can use on the coast.

📞 082 824 7994

29/10/2026

The wound has closed. The dressing is off. Now there is a scar, and everyone has an opinion on what to put on it.

Here is what is actually worth doing, and what is not.

Wait until it is properly closed. No scab, no open patch, no weeping, and your nurse or surgeon happy with it. Nothing on this list belongs on an open wound.

What helps

🔹 Silicone sheets or gel. This is the one product with real evidence behind it. Use it daily for at least two to three months. Silicone sheets can be washed and reused, so it does not have to be expensive
🔹 Gentle massage with a plain moisturiser for five to ten minutes a day once the wound is fully healed and your surgeon says it is fine. Firm, circular pressure. It helps soften and flatten the scar
🔹 Sun protection for a full year. Sunlight darkens scars permanently. Sunscreen SPF 30 or higher, or a cover, every day
🔹 Time. A scar keeps improving for twelve to eighteen months. Judge it then, not at week six

What does not help as much as the labels claim

🔸 Vitamin E oil, which has not been shown to help and sometimes causes a rash
🔸 Expensive scar creams with big promises and no evidence
🔸 Picking, scratching or peeling anything that flakes

When to see someone

🔸 The scar is growing beyond the edges of the original wound, itchy, thick or painful. This can be a keloid, and early treatment works far better than late
🔸 The scar is tight over a joint and limiting movement
🔸 Some skin tones are more prone to raised scars. If it runs in the family, ask early

The cheapest scar care is also the best: a good silicone sheet, a plain moisturiser, sunscreen and patience.

Send this to someone who has recently had surgery.

Follow the page. We will be posting more on healing well, not just healing quickly.

📞 082 824 7994

28/10/2026

If you have diabetes and one foot becomes warm, swollen and a bit red, with little or no pain, there is a condition that must not be missed.

It is called a Charcot foot. It is not an infection, and it is easy to mistake for one, or for gout, or for "just a sprain".

What happens. Nerve damage means you cannot feel the small injuries that happen with every step. The bones and joints in the foot slowly weaken and can fracture without you noticing. If you keep walking on it, the foot can collapse and change shape. The arch drops, the foot becomes deformed, and pressure ulcers follow.

What it looks like

🔸 One foot noticeably warmer than the other. Feel with the back of your hand
🔸 Swelling, sometimes with mild redness
🔸 Little or no pain, which is what fools people. It may feel achy or just "odd"
🔸 Sometimes it starts after a minor knock, a twist, or with no cause at all
🔸 In diabetes with numb feet, especially after years

What to do

🔹 Stop walking on it. Use crutches or a wheelchair if you need to move
🔹 Get it seen within 24 hours by a doctor or a nurse who knows diabetic feet. An X-ray and a proper assessment are needed
🔹 Do not wait to see if it goes away. It won't

The treatment is taking the weight completely off the foot, often in a cast, for weeks to months while the bones heal. It sounds like a big ask. It is far better than losing the shape of your foot.

The good news: caught early and offloaded properly, a Charcot foot can heal without lasting damage. Caught late, it is one of the hardest problems in foot care.

This is the kind of thing worth knowing before it happens. Share it with a family member with diabetes.

Follow the page for more free diabetic foot advice.

📞 082 824 7994

27/10/2026

If you have been told you need negative pressure wound therapy, you are allowed to ask questions before you say yes. In fact, you should. Here are the six I would ask if it were my mother.

1. "Has my circulation been checked?" A wound will not heal well if not enough blood reaches it, whatever is on top of it. This matters most for legs and feet.

2. "Is the wound clean, and is any infection being treated?" The pump works on a prepared wound bed. It is not a substitute for cleaning one.

3. "What are we aiming for, and when will we review it?" A good plan has a goal and review dates. An open-ended pump with no plan is a warning sign.

4. "Who changes the dressing, how often, and where?" Usually every two to three days. You need to know who is coming and what happens if they cannot.

5. "Who do I phone in the middle of the night?" Pumps alarm. Seals lift. You should have a name and a number, not "try the hospital".

6. "Has the medical aid authorised it, and what will I pay?" Pre-authorisation comes before the pump goes on, not after. Ask for what the scheme has approved in writing, for how long, and for what it does not cover.

A bonus seventh, for feet and legs: "How will the pressure be kept off the wound?" You cannot walk your way through NPWT on a heel or the sole of a foot. If nobody has mentioned offloading, ask.

The answers will tell you a lot. Clear answers mean a clear plan. Vague ones mean you may need a second opinion, and asking for one is completely normal.

Screenshot this list. Take it to the next appointment.

Follow the page for free advice that helps you ask better questions.

📞 082 824 7994

26/10/2026

A Caesarean is major abdominal surgery, and then you go home and look after a newborn on no sleep. Here is what actually protects the wound.

Keeping it clean and dry

🔹 Showering is fine once you have been told it is. Let the water run over it, then pat it dry with a clean towel. Do not rub
🔹 If the skin fold above the wound stays damp, keep a clean dry cloth or gauze folded there. A damp fold is where problems begin
🔹 Loose, soft cotton underwear and clothing that sits above or below the wound, not on top of it
🔹 Leave the dressing on until you have been told to remove it

Protecting it

🔹 Hold a small pillow against the wound when you cough, sneeze, laugh or get up. This one habit prevents more trouble than anything else
🔹 Get up from lying on your side, not straight up from your back
🔹 Do not lift anything heavier than your baby until your doctor says so. That includes toddlers, laundry baskets and shopping
🔹 Accept help. This is not the time to be tough

What is normal: numbness, tingling or a dull pulling around the scar for months. A raised, pink ridge that slowly flattens.

Get it checked the same day if

🔸 Redness spreading out from the wound, or heat
🔸 Fluid, pus or a smell
🔸 The edges are coming apart
🔸 A fever, or you feel generally unwell
🔸 Pain that is getting worse after the first week rather than better
🔸 Heavy bleeding or large clots

Mothers are very good at putting everyone else's needs first, and everything on this list is easy to dismiss. If in doubt, ask. No mother has ever wasted a nurse's time.

Do you know a new mom? Send her this before she needs it.

Follow the page for free, practical advice that you can read one-handed at 3 in the morning.

📞 082 824 7994

AB Woundcare

05/11/2026

04/11/2026

03/11/2026

02/11/2026

31/10/2026

30/10/2026

29/10/2026

28/10/2026

27/10/2026

26/10/2026

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Monday	07:00 - 16:00
Tuesday	07:00 - 16:00
Wednesday	07:00 - 16:00
Thursday	07:00 - 16:00
Friday	07:00 - 16:00