How do I change a wound dressing for someone else?

Written by WISH Clinic

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Traci A. Kimball, MD, MBA

Last medical review October 23, 2026

Follow the same steps as changing your own, with one addition: wear clean medical gloves, which do not need to be sterile. Wash your hands and change gloves between stages.

It’s the same procedure as changing your own, with one addition: gloves. Put on clean medical gloves if the wound is infected (red or oozing) or if you are changing the dressing for someone else. The gloves do not need to be sterile.

Everything else follows the same steps.

Before. Clean your hands: wash with soap and warm water for 15 to 30 seconds, including under your nails, rinse and dry with a clean towel, or use an alcohol-based cleanser. Have all the supplies ready and a clean work surface.

Taking the old dressing off. Gloves on. Loosen the tape carefully. If the dressing sticks, moisten it with warm water and try again — unless you have been told to pull it off dry. Put the old dressing in a plastic bag, remove the gloves into the same bag, and wash your hands again.

Cleaning, if that is part of the routine. New gloves. Clean gently with warm water and soap, or with saline, using a clean soft cloth or gauze. Rinse, and pat dry with a clean towel — do not rub it dry. This is the moment to look: check for increased redness, swelling, or a bad odor, and pay attention to the color and amount of drainage.

Putting the new dressing on. New gloves again. Do not touch the inside of the dressing. Place it over the wound and tape down all four sides, or, if the wound is packed, fill the wound and any spaces under the skin without laying moist gauze on the surrounding skin, then cover with a dry pad.

After. Seal the used material in a plastic bag, double it, and put it in the trash. Wash your hands again. Use a dressing only once.

One thing worth saying out loud about doing this for someone else: being willing is not the same as having been taught. Ask to be shown on the wound itself before you are doing it alone.

What to watch for

Put on clean medical gloves if you are changing the dressing for someone else. They do not need to be sterile.

Check the wound at each change for increased redness, swelling, or a bad odor. Pay attention to the color and amount of drainage, and look for drainage that has become darker, thicker or foul smelling.

Contact a provider for worsening redness, more pain, swelling, bleeding, a wound that is larger or deeper or looks dried out or dark, drainage that is increasing or not decreasing after 3 to 5 days, or drainage that becomes thick, tan, yellow, green or smells bad.

Being shown on the wound itself is part of the instruction, not an extra. If that hasn’t happened, ask for it.

Wound Wizard is general education and is not a substitute for being taught. The clinician managing the wound is the right person to ask.

What we look at

Teaching the technique on the wound itself
Specifying what supplies are needed
Setting how often the dressing is changed
Reviewing the wound and how the changes are going

Sources

Surgical wound care - closed — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000738.htm
Surgical wound care - open — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000040.htm
Wet-to-dry dressing changes — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000315.htm

How do I change a wound dressing for someone else?

What to watch for

What we look at

Related questions

Sources