Surgical site infections (SSIs) are infections that develop in patients’ wounds following surgery. They can be superficial, involving just the skin incision site, or lie deeper and involve tissue, organs or cavity spaces. 

SSIs can take a long time to heal and cause considerable distress to patients. They’re also expensive to treat and associated with an increased mortality rate. Around 5% of surgical patients develop an SSI.

At the Skin Integrity Research Centre, we’re exploring how interventions can prevent infections, developing robust surveillance programmes, improving understanding of the patient experience and informing international surgery guidelines. 

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Hair-removal research shapes surgery guidelines  

Changing international guidance to prevent infections.

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