Everyone's travel first-aid kit seems to include a tube of antibiotic ointment. Turns out, for most everyday cuts and grazes, it's doing about as much as the plaster alone — and it can occasionally cause problems of its own.
Writing in the Washington Post (republished by the NZ Herald), Harvard physician Dr Trisha Pasricha explains that a large randomised trial of nearly 1,000 patients with minor skin wounds found antibiotic ointment (bacitracin) performed no better than plain petroleum jelly at preventing infection or aiding healing, with similar results replicated since. The American Academy of Dermatology now advises topical antibiotics only for surgical wounds showing signs of infection — not as a default for every scrape.
There's a real downside, too. Around 5% of children and 2% of adults develop allergic contact dermatitis to common ointment ingredients like neomycin, causing red, itchy skin that sometimes needs steroid creams to settle. Worse, dermatologist Shoshana Marmon points out the resulting inflammation can be mistaken for a wound infection, sending people down the wrong treatment path. Pediatric dermatologist Adelaide Hebert adds a broader concern: antibiotic resistance, already a public health problem, is a reason to cut back where you can.
So what should you do with the grazed knee from that coastal hike? The advice is refreshingly cheap. Wash your hands, rinse the wound with cool water (skip the hydrogen peroxide — it stings and may damage healing tissue), pat dry, and hold pressure until bleeding stops. Then apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly — ideally from a tub you keep just for wounds — and cover with a plaster. Change the plaster daily with fresh jelly. The covering does double duty by shielding healing skin from sun, which reduces the risk of lasting discolouration.
Know when to escalate. Hebert's red flags for actual infection: spreading redness, red streaks around the wound, warmth, pus, fever or chills — those warrant seeing a doctor. And some injuries need stitches: bleeding that won't stop after 10-15 minutes of firm pressure, a cut deeper than about 6mm (especially if you can see fat, muscle or bone), a jagged or gaping edge, wounds longer than roughly 1.9cm, any cut on the face, hands or joints where scarring matters, anything caused by an animal bite or rusty metal (possible tetanus risk), or a wound with embedded dirt or glass.
Why it matters for travellers: kits are packed before you go, and cheap petroleum jelly weighs less and lasts longer than ointment tubes. It's one simple swap that covers nearly every minor injury a holiday can throw at you — while knowing the genuine emergency signs means you can find a clinic confidently when it counts.
Original reporting: NZ Herald Travel / The Washington Post.
