Is this wound healing the way it should?
After a biopsy, excision, peel, or laser session, every day brings the same question. Log pain, redness, drainage, size, and the care you did — the tracker checks each entry against the warning signs clinics actually ask about, and builds a printable healing report for your follow-up.
Your procedure
Day counts and pain checks key off this dateNormal vs. worth a call
Know these before you worry — or wait too longUsually normal early on
- Mild soreness that eases day by day
- A little clear or pink-tinged fluid
- A thin rim of pinkness right at the edge
- A scab or, after cryo, a small blister
- Mild itch as it heals
Reasons to contact your clinic
- Redness spreading outward from the wound
- Pain getting worse after day 2–3
- Yellow/green discharge, pus or bad smell
- Fever or feeling generally unwell
- The wound opening up
- Heavy or persistent bleeding
Any of these is worth a prompt call to the clinic that did your procedure — when in doubt, call.
Today's check-in
Saved only on this deviceYour healing log
Attach photos from your photo log
Same angle, same light, dated — wound photos are the fastest way to show a clinician how healing has moved. Photos come from the Photo Tracker on this device.
No check-ins yet. Set your procedure above, then log your first check-in — under a minute a day. Each entry is checked against the warning signs on this page, and the printable report is ready whenever your follow-up is.
What healing usually looks like
Typical estimates from your procedure dateSkin biopsy Shave, punch or incisional biopsy
- Day 1 — Take off the first dressing (often after ~24 h — follow your clinic)
- Day 1 — Start daily clean + ointment
- Suture removal — Stitches removed (if any were placed) (date to confirm with your clinic)
- Day 14 — Site should be well on the mend (small biopsy sites often settle in ~2 weeks)
Excision Lesion cut out, usually with stitches
- Day 2 — Remove the outer dressing (keep dry ~24–48 h first)
- Day 2 — Start daily wound care
- Suture removal — Stitches removed (face often ~5–7 d; trunk/limbs ~10–14 d)
- Day 14 — Ease back into exercise & lifting (avoid stretching the scar early)
Cryotherapy Freezing (liquid nitrogen)
- Day 1 — Leave any blister intact (don’t pop it)
- Day 2 — Keep the area clean and dry
- Day 10 — Let the crust separate on its own
- Day 21 — Healing usually complete (can take ~1–3 weeks depending on the site)
Curettage & cautery Scraped and sealed
- Day 2 — Keep the dressing dry
- Day 2 — Daily clean + ointment until healed
- Day 14 — Let the scab separate naturally
- Day 28 — Healing usually complete (often ~3–6 weeks; legs/back are slower)
Mohs surgery / repair Staged removal with reconstruction
- Day 2 — Keep the pressure dressing on (usually 24–48 h)
- Day 2 — Start wound care as instructed
- Suture removal — Stitches removed (date to confirm with your clinic)
- Day 14 — Limit strenuous activity (protect the repair while it heals)
Other procedure Peels, laser and everything else
- Day 1 — Remove / replace dressing as advised
- Day 1 — Daily wound care as advised
- Suture removal — Stitches removed (if any) (date to confirm with your clinic)
- Day 14 — Review how it’s healing
Dates are typical estimates from your procedure date. General guidance only — always follow the specific instructions your clinic gave you. Barrier-repair product picks for healed-over skin live under post-procedure.
Saved only on this device — and browsers erase site data. A history clear, a private window, or Safari's automatic deletion after seven days without a visit will take this log with it. The fix is a free Dermington account: it backs this up automatically and puts it on every device you sign in to — details in how storage works.
How the tracker works
You start with the procedure — what was done and when — because everything downstream keys off that date: each check-in is stamped “Day 4” or “Day 12,” and the pain rules know that soreness should be easing, not building, after the first couple of days. A daily entry takes under a minute: pain on a 0–10 scale, the wound’s length and width in millimetres if you can measure it, and quick structured answers on redness, swelling, discharge, smell, warmth, whether you feel unwell, and whether the edges are holding closed — plus the care you performed that day and any notes. Entries can be back-dated, edited, and deleted, and the whole log lives in your browser’s local storage on this device — nothing is uploaded.
Every entry is then checked against the post-procedure warning signs clinics actually screen for: spreading redness, pain increasing after day 2–3, yellow-green or foul discharge, fever or feeling unwell, wound dehiscence, and heavy bleeding — a list consistent with routine dermatologic aftercare advice and surgical-site infection guidance (CDC/NHSN SSI criteria; NICE NG125, 2019). Match one and the tool says so, plainly, with a prompt to contact your clinic — a safety nudge, never a diagnosis. When your follow-up arrives, one click prints the full check-in table with any flags, ready to hand over — pair it with the Photo Tracker for a dated visual timeline and the Derm Visit Prep sheet for the rest of the appointment. Once the site has healed over, our post-procedure page covers barrier-repair products graded for exactly that job.
Common questions
What are the signs of infection after a skin biopsy or excision?
The classic warning signs are redness spreading outward from the wound, pain that increases after the first two to three days, yellow or green pus-like discharge or a bad smell, fever or feeling generally unwell, the wound edges opening up, and heavy or persistent bleeding. Any one of these is a good reason to contact the clinic that did your procedure promptly. This tracker checks every entry against exactly that list and tells you when something you logged matches it.
How long does a wound take to heal after a dermatology procedure?
It depends on the procedure and the site. Small biopsy sites often settle in about two weeks, cryotherapy sites in one to three weeks, and curettage and cautery in three to six weeks — legs and backs are reliably slower. Stitched excisions track suture-removal timing: faces around five to seven days, trunk and limbs ten to fourteen. The typical-timeline section in this tool lays those estimates out per procedure, and your clinic’s own instructions always take precedence.
Is it normal for a healing wound to be red, itchy, or weepy?
Some of each, early on. A thin rim of pinkness right at the edge, mild soreness that eases day by day, a little clear or pink-tinged fluid, a scab (or a small blister after cryotherapy), and mild itch are all ordinary parts of healing. The pattern to watch is direction: normal findings fade over days, while redness that spreads, pain that grows, or discharge that turns yellow-green is what earns a call to your clinic.
Why keep a daily log after a procedure?
Because wound problems announce themselves as changes, and changes are invisible without a baseline. Thirty seconds a day recording pain, redness, discharge, and size gives you an objective trend — and if something does go wrong, the printable report hands your clinician the exact timeline instead of a vague "it got worse at some point last week." Dated photos from the Photo Tracker slot straight into the same report.
Does Dermington see my wound log?
No — every entry stays in your browser’s local storage on this device, and the print report is generated locally too. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account requirement. The flip side of that privacy is fragility: clearing browser data erases the log, so download a backup from Your data if you’re tracking a wound over weeks.