Wound cleansing: has it become a ritual or is it a necessity?

Wound cleansing is considered to be an integral part of wound care, nevertheless wound cleansing is very often said to be a ritualistic procedure that is undertaken with very little thought or rational ( Magson-Roberts 2006 ). Is wound cleansing a procedure that needs to be performed and what is the difference between wound cleansing and debridment. The aim of this article is to consider the need for wound cleansing; the solutions used and the preferred method of cleansing wounds.