How do I care for a quite large stitched-up wound?

[frogsy]

My friend's little sister received quite a sizeable wound on her arm after getting tangled in barbed-wire this week. She's been in surgery and had it stitched up, but the stitches have pulled the skin very tight, and we're not sure how to care for it now. The doctors have given confusing or conflicting advice, and her mother was in a daze. She's got more appointments with doctors and a plastic surgeon, but I was hoping somebody here could tell me how you're supposed to care for a stitched-up wound in the meantime, and whether it looks, judging by the pictures below, to be okay right now. I'm well aware that going online for medical advice isn't a great idea, but there've already been doctor visits, and there are more coming up, and the expense adds up -- if this falls under basic first-aid/home care advice, and we can find it online, it'd be immensely helpful, and much appreciated.

The wound the day it happened -- http://i.imgur.com/Hzulq.jpg

The wound today -- http://i55.tinypic.com/21axru1.jpg


It's darkened and blackened... is that normal? What should be done to care for it and make sure it's okay?

[Rotimber]

The wound shown in this picture is actually looking pretty good. I would advise lightly wrapping the arm with clean kurlex gauze. You can get this at any walgreens and most pharmacy sections in a grocery store. Keep an eye on the wound and if any signs of infection such as redness or red streaking, any pus-like drainage or a sustained fever greater than 101 degrees were to occur call the doctor to have it looked at. The main thing is to keep it covered and dry, dont wrap the dressing too tight as you want air to get to it to promote healing.

[ChristineMP]

It looks okay. You need to watch for redness, inflammation, odor and discharge. Keep it clean and dry. You can dab it with a sterile gauze moistened with normal saline then gently pat dry.

The blackness is most likely from bruising