Question:
What does packing your incision mean?

I would like to know exactly what it means and how you pack your incision. If anyone knows, could you please describe how to do that?    — wildchild (posted on July 23, 2003)

July 23, 2003
You pack your incision when a section of it opens up - in essence, you have a deep, gaping wound. To pack it means to insert gauze or some absorbant material into the wound until the hole is full of gauze. To wet pack it means that the gauze is dampened by some type of liquid before it's packed in - usually sterile saline solution, but in my case, peroxide. To dry pack it means that the gauze is dry. ;) To leave a wick means to insert a narrow strip of gauze into the wound, and leave the rest hanging out. This is done to draw the drainage out of the body. After 4 weeks of packing my incision, I'm beginning to feel like a pro, lol. (open rny, 6 weeks post-op)
   — Dragon G.

July 23, 2003
your surgeon should teach you exactly what he wants you to do in packing the wound. be sure to do it in a sterile fashion, and try to do it as he showed you..i had to pack one of my wounds for about 2 weeks due to a post op infection, it was just a matter of stuffing a bit of dressing into the wound..this allows the wound to heal from the inside out...good luck! also if your wound care is very involed...your dr might order a visiting nurse to do the dressing...
   — nan K.

July 23, 2003
I had to pack a place on my incision when I had my tummy tuck. I just had to clean the wound out with peroxide and then stuff a corner of a 4X4 gauze pad into it. My surgeon doesn't believe in tape so he had me put a folded towel over the place and wear my binder to hold it in place. I had to do this for about 10 days.
   — Patty_Butler

July 23, 2003
As the others said, packing the wound means to put either a wet or dry gauze into the wound, leave for a period of time, then remove and replace it. You can have a nurse show you how to do this. Most insurance plans will cover a nurse to come to your home, if your incision is where you can't reach it to do a good job of changing the dressing. (In all my years as a nurse, I watched a lot of docs change dressings, or rather, rip them off and then leave so the nurse could finish the job. Or, they would peel back a dressing, look at a wound and then try to re-stick the dressing back. )
   — koogy