Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffTo help prevent cellulitis and other infections, follow these measures anytime you have a skin wound:
- Wash your wound daily with soap and water. Do this gently as part of your normal bathing.
- Apply an antibiotic cream or ointment. For most surface wounds, a single- or double-antibiotic ointment provides adequate protection.
- Cover your wound with a bandage. This helps keep the wound clean and bacteria out. If you have draining blisters, keep them covered until a scab forms.
- Change bandages often. Change them at least daily or whenever the bandage becomes wet or dirty.
- Watch for signs of infection. Redness, pain and drainage all signal possible infection and the need for medical evaluation.
People with diabetes and those with poor circulation need to take extra precautions to prevent skin wounds and treat any cuts or cracks in the skin promptly. Good skin-care measures include the following:
- Moisturize your skin regularly. Lubricating your skin helps prevent cracking and peeling.
- Trim your fingernails and toenails carefully. Take care not to injure the surrounding skin.
- Protect your hands and feet. Wear appropriate footwear and gloves.
- Promptly treat any superficial skin infections, such as athlete's foot. Infections on the surface of the skin (superficial) can easily spread from person to person. Don't wait to start treatment.
