White, soggy skin around a wound tells you something, and it can have a real consequence.
For ischemic ulcers and venous leg ulcers, the instruction is the same. Keep the dressing and the skin around it dry. Try not to get healthy tissue around the wound too wet. This can soften the healthy tissue, causing the wound to get bigger.
That last part is why this matters and isn’t just about how it looks. Softened skin at the edge is skin that can break down. A wound that gets bigger at its edge is getting bigger for a reason that has nothing to do with the wound bed itself.
This can seem to clash with other advice. For pressure sores, a dressing helps keep the sore moist so it can heal. But moisture in the wound and moisture on the surrounding skin are different things. You want both at once: a moist wound bed, and dry, intact skin around it.
General home wound care fits with this. Don’t use lotions, powders, cosmetics or any other skin care products on a wound. After bathing, pat the area around the wound dry with a clean towel.
What this page can’t tell you is whether your dressing is the right one for the amount of fluid your wound is producing. That is a question for the person who chose it, and softened skin at the edges is a reasonable thing to raise with them.