People often expect a number here, like every day or every other day. There isn’t one general number, and the reason is worth understanding.
How often a dressing should be changed depends on the type of wound and the type of dressing. Some dressings are designed to stay on for up to a week.
That second point surprises people who assume a dressing should be changed often. Changing a dressing more often than the schedule calls for is not automatically better, and the schedule is set for the dressing that was chosen.
Closed surgical wounds show the same thing from the other direction. Your surgeon will tell you how often to change your dressing, and you can leave your original dressing in place for as long as your surgeon says.
There are also times to change a dressing sooner than scheduled. Change it sooner if it becomes wet or soaked with blood or other fluids. If liquid leaks out of the dressing, or if the wound is much more painful than before without a clear reason, it’s strongly recommended that you contact your treating health care professional.
The change itself matters too. Clean your hands before touching the dressing. Put on clean medical gloves if the wound is infected or if you are changing the dressing for someone else. The gloves do not need to be sterile. Don’t touch the inside of the dressing, and don’t apply antibiotic cream or other products unless your surgeon tells you to. With pressure sores, clean the sore every time the dressing is changed.
There is no interval that applies to wounds in general, because the interval belongs to a particular wound and a particular dressing.