Three-quarters of Australians are doing the wrong thing when it comes to treating open wounds.

Three-in-four of us think leaving a wound uncovered to dry out is the best course of action.

But that’s not true.

“We need to have an appropriate dressing in place to speed up the wound healing. It also helps to prevent bacteria,” pharmacist and expert in wound care, Karen Carter, told Tom Elliott.

Ms Carter said scab is “the body’s way of putting a dressing on”, but it slows down healing.

“With scabs what happens is that the cells have to then move underneath the scab to form new skin, but what happens is if we put a dressing on, then we’re actually allowing those cells to move across freely,” she said.

Press PLAY below to hear about the mistake most of us are making