Is Moisturizing a Cut Advisable?

Before reaching for a bandage, consider whether moisturizing the wound is beneficial. Manchan/Getty Images

Anyone who has received skincare advice from a spa professional or read beauty articles in fashion magazines understands the importance of moisturizers. These products help replenish skin-sealing lipids and maintain hydration, which is crucial for healthy-looking skin. "Considering the daily challenges our skin faces—weather, pollution, dry indoor air, dirt, and physical irritation—women over 30 should incorporate moisturizers into their daily routine, both morning and night," explains Daniel B. Yarosh, author of "The New Science of Perfect Skin: Understanding Skin-Care Myths and Miracles for Radiant Skin at Any Age" [source: Yarosh].

This advice raises an important question: What about more severe skin damage, such as cuts, tears, or punctures? If moisturizers are effective for minor skin issues, could they also aid in healing wounds? Should you apply your regular moisturizer to a fresh injury?

The response to these questions is: "It depends." While maintaining moisture and elasticity in cut skin is vital for healing and preventing scars, an open wound is more delicate and susceptible to irritation and infection compared to intact skin. Properly moisturizing a cut requires a specialized approach, distinct from your regular skincare routine. So, what’s the right method?

What happens to your skin after you cut yourself?

To understand the importance of treating a cut correctly, consider it a laceration, the medical term for a skin injury. This term emphasizes the seriousness of such wounds. Deep cuts, like those from accidents or sharp objects, can damage muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and nerves. If you encounter a severe laceration with embedded objects, seek emergency help immediately [source: Heller].

Even minor cuts on your limbs, while less dangerous, can still cause discomfort and serve as entry points for harmful bacteria like Staphylococcus

("staph"), potentially leading to infections [source: Gelfand]. Improper healing can also result in unsightly scars.

After a cut, your skin undergoes a multi-phase healing process. The inflammatory phase begins immediately, with blood vessels constricting and clotting to stop bleeding. Your body releases healing chemicals, and debris is cleared over several days. Epithelialization follows, creating new skin cells to protect against bacteria and retain moisture. During the proliferative phase, new skin cells and capillaries form, giving the wound a purplish-pink hue and supplying nutrients for protein production, including collagen, the primary component of scars. Finally, the remodeling phase strengthens the new skin, which eventually reaches 70 percent of its original strength over six months [source: Durkin].

In the following section, we’ll explore why using your everyday moisturizer on a cut is not recommended.

Why You Shouldn't Put Your Regular Moisturizer on a Cut

Manufacturers often include warnings for a reason. If you examine the labels of most moisturizers, you’ll frequently find the caution: "Not for use on broken skin." This advice is worth heeding.

Historically, people used basic remedies like lanolin and petroleum jelly to treat dry skin, and these might have been safe for cuts. (Petroleum jelly, in fact, can be beneficial for healing cuts, as we’ll discuss later.) However, modern skincare products are packed with a wide range of additives—vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, exfoliants, and more—to attract consumers with bold promises. Some products contain over 30 active ingredients [source: Loden].

While these ingredients may enhance beauty, applying them to an open wound can lead to adverse effects. For instance, acids designed to remove dead skin can irritate delicate new tissue. Additionally, some ingredients, like vitamin E, are often assumed to aid skin regeneration. However, a 1999 study in Dermatological Surgery found that vitamin E neither speeds up wound healing nor reduces scarring. In fact, it can cause irritation, potentially worsening the appearance of scars [source: Edell].

What should you put on cuts and scrapes to help them heal?

When you sustain a cut, the initial step is to cleanse the wound thoroughly with soap and water. David De Lossy/Getty Images

The first step in treating cuts and scrapes is to rinse them with soap and water, a process known as irrigating the wound. This helps remove bacteria, dirt, and debris, reducing the risk of infection. While hospitals use specialized tools for this, running tap water is sufficient at home [source: Carroll]. For a natural approach, you can create an antiseptic solution by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea tree oil to a cup of warm water [source: Readers Digest]. Avoid wiping the cut, as this can push contaminants deeper into the skin. Instead, allow it to air dry [source: Carroll].

After cleaning the wound, the next step is to moisturize it. Keeping the area moist and flexible prevents scabbing, which can impede proper healing and may be accidentally disturbed, causing further damage. Healthcare professionals often recommend applying an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin and covering the cut with a bandage. Change the bandage daily, clean the wound gently during showers, and reapply the ointment and a fresh bandage for about a week [source: Morales].

Once the healing process has progressed sufficiently, you can stop using bandages. However, continue moisturizing the area to support recovery and minimize scar tissue formation. At this stage, consider using petroleum jelly, a classic moisturizer [source: Morales]. While it may seem too greasy for some, its effectiveness in treating minor scrapes is well-founded. Petroleum jelly not only deeply hydrates and softens the skin but also forms a protective barrier that locks in moisture and keeps out harmful microbes. Its infection-preventing properties are so reliable that it’s even used in hospitals to safeguard premature infants, whose skin is not yet fully developed [source: Schueller].