Is Salt Water Good or Bad For Open Cuts?

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If you associate salt water with healing, you're not alone. (Rach and most of our audience thought this was true, too!) 

But family physician and associate professor at Rowan University in New Jersey Dr. Jen Caudle is here to burst your bubble a little. 

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She actually advises not to let salt water into open wounds — and here's why. Not only will it majorly sting and burn, but there may also be germs in seawater that could actually make your cut worse, Dr. Jen notes. 

"You could get bacteria in [the cut]," she tells us. "You might get an infection." And nobody wants that!

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Instead, clean your wounds with clean water, antibiotic ointment and bandages, the doc suggests. Simple enough!

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