Home care

At home: 

• Remove the gauze dressing from your incision after  24 hours, unless told otherwise.

• Leave the cut covered with adhesive strips until you go back to have your stitches removed. Some surgeons use absorbable stitches or skin glue.

• Replace any adhesive strips that fall off.

• Keep the cut dry. Don't rub it or scratch it. Take a sponge bath so you don't get your cut wet, unless told otherwise.

• Ask the healthcare provider when you can take a shower or bath. Ask the best way to keep your cut dry when bathing or showering.

• You may have a small rim of redness and swelling around the cut. This often goes away in a few days.

• Don’t take aspirin. To ease pain, take acetaminophen or another non-aspirin pain reliever every  4 to 6 hours as needed.

Follow-up

• Make a follow-up appointment as advised.

• Make an appointment for  10 to 14 days after the biopsy. This is also when you'll have your stitches removed, if needed.

When to call your healthcare provider

Call your provider right away if you have any of these:

• More redness around the biopsy site

• A lot of swelling, discomfort, or pain

• Fluid leaking or pus at the biopsy site

• Bleeding from the cut (not controlled by  10 to 15 minutes of firm pressure on the wound)

• Fever of  100.4° F ( 38.0°C) or higher, or as advised by your provider

• Chills