What should I do if dirt will not come out of a wound?

There’s no home method beyond gentle cleaning. Irrigate with a syringe only if your provider directs it, and never try debridement yourself, because a foreign body in a wound is one reason wounds don’t heal.

There’s no home method for this beyond gentle cleaning, and knowing that is the most useful thing on this page.

Cleaning should be gentle. Soak a gauze pad or soft cloth in saline or mild soapy water and gently dab or wipe the skin, trying to remove drainage and any dried blood or other matter built up on it. With a closed surgical wound, do not rub or scrub the wound. Picking, digging, or working at material that won’t lift is not part of wound cleaning.

The one method for washing material out of a wound is something a clinician has to approve. Your provider may also ask you to irrigate, or wash out, your wound: fill a syringe with salt water or soapy water, whichever your provider recommends, hold the syringe 1 to 6 inches away from the wound, and spray hard enough into the wound to wash away drainage and discharge. That is a technique taught for a particular wound, not a general instruction.

There’s also a reason not to leave the problem alone. Having a foreign body, such as a piece of wood or broken glass, in the wound is one of the reasons wounds fail to heal. Material that stays in a wound can keep it from closing.

A clinician deals with this directly. During a debridement of a foot ulcer, the wound is probed with a metal instrument to see how deep it is and to see if there is any foreign material or an object in the ulcer. Finding and removing what is in a wound is a procedure. You should never try to do debridement yourself.

So for dirt that won’t come out: clean gently, irrigate only if your provider directs it, and know that material left in a wound is a reason wounds don’t heal. Removing it is done at an exam. Anything beyond gentle cleaning is a reason to be seen, not a technique to step up at home.

What to watch for

Do not rub or scrub the wound. Irrigation is something your provider may ask you to do, with a solution your provider recommends.

You should never try to do debridement yourself. A provider, such as a podiatrist, will need to do this to make sure it is done correctly and does not make the injury worse.

A foreign body such as a piece of wood or broken glass in the wound is one of the reasons a wound may not heal well. A clinician can probe the wound to see if there is any foreign material or an object in it.

Material you cannot remove gently is a reason to have the wound looked at, especially if it is not healing. A wound is non-healing if it has not started to heal in 2 weeks or has not completely healed in 6 weeks.

Wound Wizard is general education and can’t assess your wound or what is in it. Your own clinician is the right person to ask.

What we look at

  • Examining the wound and probing it for foreign material
  • Judging how deep the wound is
  • Removing material or dead tissue properly
  • Deciding whether the wound needs further treatment

Sources

  1. Surgical wound care - open — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000040.htm
  2. Wound care centers — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000739.htm
  3. Diabetes - foot ulcers — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000077.htm
  4. Surgical wound care - closed — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000738.htm