Skin oozing after hair matt removed

Question
Our golden retriever had matted hair behind both ears.  We removed the matted hair by cutting the hair close to the skin a bit at a time.  It was tedious, but we were careful not to cut her and all looked well.  We were astonished by the surface area of skin affected.  The resulting bald spot is at least twice the size as the original clump of hair.

When we woke up today we noticed the bald areas were coated with puss.  My wife described it as being sappy.  Is this a normal reaction to a nasty hair matting?  What can we do?

Thank you!

Tim

Answer
Hi Tim,  Your dog has a hot spot which is common under really matted hair.  The best thing to do is cut the hair all the way down to the skin on the wound and then cleanse it with a warm soapy cloth.  Then treat it with an antibacterial cream or an over the counter hot spot ointment that you can normally buy at Petco, PetSmart etc.  The most important thing about hot spots is to keep the hair out of them, keep them clean and dry except for medicine.  Hope this helps & good luck,

Dawn