How much pain is normal during wound healing?

Written by WISH Clinic

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

Last medical review

Some tenderness in the first days is part of normal healing — the wound becomes slightly swollen, red or pink and tender for about 2 to 5 days. There’s no number for normal pain; pain that is increasing, or that will not go away even after taking pain medicine, is a reason to contact your provider.

Some tenderness early on is part of normal healing. Once a scab forms, your immune system starts protecting the wound. The wound becomes slightly swollen, red or pink, and tender. That stage lasts about 2 to 5 days. Tenderness with mild swelling and pinkness in the first few days is part of the process rather than a sign something has gone wrong.

There’s no number for normal pain. There is no pain score, no scale, and no set day by which pain should have stopped. What matters instead is direction of travel.

Pain that is increasing is the first change to report. If you have a wet-to-dry dressing, more pain is one of the changes to contact your provider about. With an open surgical wound, call if there is more redness, pain, swelling, or bleeding at the wound site. Pain that gets worse is also one of the signs of infection.

Pain that does not respond is the second. Contact your provider right away for pain at the wound that will not go away, even after taking pain medicine. That is the clearest line to watch for, and it does not depend on how high the pain is.

Pain is also something to be managed rather than endured. Pain management is one of the kinds of help a wound care team provides, alongside the dressing changes themselves. If pain is costing you sleep, limiting what you can do, or making you dread dressing changes, that is worth raising even when none of the lines above has been crossed.

What to watch for

Contact your provider right away for pain at the wound that will not go away, even after taking pain medicine. Redness, increased pain, or yellow or green pus, or excessive clear fluid around the injury are signs of infection, and black edges around the injury are a sign of dead tissue.

Because this question is about what counts as normal, the useful thing to bring to a visit is a comparison rather than a score: what the pain was like three days ago set against what it is like now, whether it wakes you, what you have taken for it, and whether that helped.

What we look at

  • Whether pain is increasing, steady or settling, and over what period
  • Whether the pain responds to what the patient is already taking
  • Whether pain is worst at dressing change or constant between changes
  • Whether any other infection sign accompanies it
  • Whether pain is limiting sleep, mobility or self-care

Related questions

Sources

  1. MedlinePlus — How wounds heal: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000741.htm
  2. MedlinePlus — Wet-to-dry dressing changes: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000315.htm
  3. MedlinePlus — Surgical wound care, open: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000040.htm
  4. MedlinePlus — Wound care centers: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000739.htm
Non-healing wound care at The WISH Clinic

The Wish Clinic®

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