Wound Care After Mohs Surgery: A 14-Day Home Playbook

Your Mohs surgeon will send you home with a pressure dressing already applied. That dressing is usually a non-adhesive gauze pad held in place with stretch tape or an island dressing. The wound underneath has been closed with sutures, a flap, or left to heal by secondary intention, depending on the size and location.

Plan to be quiet for the rest of the day. Avoid bending over, lifting anything over 10 pounds, exercise, and alcohol. Keep your head elevated if the wound is on your face. Take Tylenol (acetaminophen) for pain. Avoid ibuprofen and aspirin for the first 48 hours unless your surgeon has cleared them, since both can raise the risk of a late bleed.

For the first 24 to 48 hours, your job is mostly to sit still. The original pressure dressing should stay on through the first night. If your surgeon's instructions say you can shower, the dressing may be waterproof or you may be asked to keep it dry.

If the dressing becomes saturated with blood within the first few hours, do not remove it. Apply additional gauze on top of the saturated dressing and press firmly for 15 minutes. If bleeding continues after 15 minutes of steady pressure, call your surgeon.

At the 48-hour mark, you'll typically remove the original dressing and start the daily wound care routine: clean the wound with mild soap and water in the shower, pat dry, apply a thick layer of petrolatum or Aquaphor, and cover with a fresh adhesive dressing.

AllaQuix® Basic is sized for this exact use case. The 4×4 size works for face Mohs sites, the 4×6 works for chest and back, and the 4×14 covers longer flaps. The soft adhesive border holds through showers and daily activity without retraumatizing the surrounding skin on removal.

Most Mohs wounds seal at the surface within 7 to 10 days. The skin underneath is still rebuilding for weeks to months. During days 7 to 14, you can typically switch to a smaller adhesive bandage like AllaQuix® Bandages for daily coverage, and the larger Basic dressing becomes optional.

Avoid sun exposure on the wound for at least three months. Use SPF 50+ daily once the dressing comes off for good. Avoid heavy exercise for the first two weeks if your surgeon hasn't cleared it.

A late bleed is when the wound starts bleeding again after the original pressure dressing was holding fine. It typically happens 24 to 36 hours after the procedure, often when the patient gets up to do something normal: bend over to tie a shoe, lift something heavy, take a hot shower. It can be alarming.

The fix is the same as for any bleed: apply firm, steady pressure to the wound through the dressing for 15 minutes without releasing. If the bleeding doesn't stop, place AllaQuix® High-Performance chitosan gauze directly over the wound, hold pressure for another 15 minutes, and call your surgeon's office.

Tylenol (acetaminophen) every 6 hours is the standard pain management for the first 48 hours. Avoid ibuprofen and aspirin for the first 48 hours unless your surgeon has explicitly cleared them, since both raise bleeding risk.

Ice packs for 20 minutes at a time during the first 24 hours help reduce swelling. After day 1, switch to warm compresses if the area feels tight. Keep your head elevated when sleeping for the first few nights if the wound is on your face.

Most Mohs wounds heal without complications. Call your surgeon's office for any of the following: fever above 100.5°F, spreading redness extending more than half an inch from the wound edge, thick or foul-smelling drainage, severe pain that's getting worse rather than better, or bleeding that won't stop after 30 minutes of steady pressure.

Go to the ER for active bleeding that won't stop, sudden severe headache or vision changes (rare but possible after facial Mohs), or any sign of a serious allergic reaction to a dressing.

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