Omphalitis is an acute inflammation caused by the invasion of bacteria from the stump of the umbilical cord

Symptoms: Mild cases of redness, swelling and oozing around the umbilicus, and severe cases of redness, swelling and hardness, increased secretions, and intraumbilical decay.

Treatment:

1. General treatment

   Mild cases are disinfected with hydrogen peroxide or iodophor, and severe cases require intravenous antibiotics and incision and drainage.    Keep the area dry and change diapers frequently to prevent urine contamination.

2. Medication

1. Local disinfection: mild patients can be disinfected with 3% hydrogen peroxide solution or iodophor 2~3 times a day.

2. Antibiotic treatment: severe patients need to be treated with antibiotics, generally empirically select appropriate antibiotics according to the results of smears and other results, or select sensitive antibiotics according to drug sensitivity, and give nutritional support treatment if necessary.

3. 10% silver nitrate: small granulation wounds can be cauterized with 10% silver nitrate, and the umbilical fossa can be healed by keeping the umbilical fossa clean and dry. Talcum powder should not be used for wounds with secretions to avoid stimulating granulation hyperplasia.

3. Surgical treatment

If an abscess has formed in the umbilicus, it can be incised, drained, and dressed, or if there is a large granulation wound in chronic omphalitis and the granulation tissue can be removed by surgery or laser or electrocautery.

4. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the umbilical cord of newborn babies is moist before and after the umbilical cord falls off, and it is "umbilical cord dampness" when it is soaked for a long time but not dry, and the skin around the umbilical cord is red, swollen, hot and painful or forms abscesses, which is called "umbilical sores", which is what we call "omphaliitis". If the care is not clean during or after the umbilical cord is clamped, the internal invasion of dampness and poison is the main cause of the disease. Therefore, neonatal umbilical cord clamping and umbilical cord care must be strictly disinfected and kept clean, after the umbilical cord is clamped with sterilized gauze, the umbilical cord should be allowed to fall off naturally, to prevent infection with evil poison, in order to prevent the occurrence of umbilical wind and umbilical sores. Keep the umbilical cord partially dry until it falls off, and do not allow water to soak into the umbilicus. After the umbilical cord falls off, if there is still local dampness, you can use keel powder, calcalmine powder or calcined gypsum powder to lightly apply a layer to the umbilicus to clear heat and converge to promote wound healing.