Caring for Your Wound at Home

Session 7 of the diabetic foot manual series walks patients through the daily home routine that protects the foot between clinic visits. The rule that ties it all together: time is tissue. Delaying care means losing more skin, fat, muscle, or bone to debridement. ### The four-step home dressing routine Only change the dressing if your doctor has instructed you to. When you do: 1. Dry — pat the wound with gauze and check between the toes. Leftover moisture causes maceration, where skin softens and breaks down. 2. Observe — press gently toward the wound and look for changes in color, drainage, or odor. 3. Cover — apply clean dry gauze, not too large and not too thick. 4. Seal — frame the edges with hypoallergenic paper tape and leave the center free. Never use elastic bandages; they cut circulation to a foot that already struggles with blood flow. ### Two healing approaches and three healing phases Your clinician will choose between traditional healing (dry gauze with topical agents) or advanced healing (moist dressings like hydrofiber, foam, or hydrogels). Both work when matched to the wound. Wounds close in three phases: inflammation (redness and swelling as leukocytes defend the tissue — this is normal), rebuild (new pink tissue fills the wound from the bottom up), and new skin growing in from the edges. A changing appearance is part of healing, not a setback. Clinicians tracking these phases across visits can see the trend objectively with a healing analytics dashboard, and mobile teams following patients at home can document each change with WoundScribe On Wheels. For more on structured diabetic foot ulcer care, see our full program.