How To Clean Your English Bulldog's Face Wrinkles

Wrinkles make the bulldog. However, those distinctive facial folds require regular cleansing to stave off infection-causing germs and bacteria. Cleaning your English bulldog's facial wrinkles becomes part of your routine. Ideally, you should clean his facial wrinkles every day. If that's not practical, clean them several times a week.

If you don't clean your bulldog's wrinkles regularly, he's likely to develop skin infections. These include skinfold pyoderma, which often appears in the tail wrinkle. Bulldogs with a skinfold tail pyoderma not only suffer from inflamed, sensitive skin, but might start "scooting" to ease the discomfort. The pyoderma gives off a bad smell. Pyoderma also can affect the facial wrinkles. If your bulldog develops a skin infection, take him to the veterinarian.

To clean your bulldog's wrinkles, keep various products on hand. These include baby wipes without alcohol, baby oil, cotton balls, clean cloths, cornstarch powder, zinc oxide ointment — found in diaper rash creams — antibiotic ointment and medicated skin powder. You might want to keep a bottle of the original, brown Listerine in your bulldog wrinkle-cleaning kit as well. You won't use all of these products every time you clean your bulldog's wrinkles, but they're good to have on hand if you notice trouble brewing in those skinfolds.

The Western Michigan Bulldog Club's recipe for wrinkle cleaning is quite basic for daily cleansing. It consists of cleaning the wrinkles with a damp, soft cloth and then gently drying them. However, if a bulldog's wrinkles require deeper cleansing, or if they are messy from food or debris, use baby wipes to clean them. Work the baby wipe deeply into the wrinkle. After drying, use diaper rash cream on the wrinkles. If the area is red or irritated, use over-the-counter antibiotic cream or one prescribed by your vet.

Georgia English Bulldog Rescue recommends daily cleaning of the facial skin folds by putting Listerine on a cotton ball and cleaning each skinfold. After applying this antiseptic, dry each skinfold with another cotton ball. After drying, apply diaper rash cream to the wrinkle. While you must clean the under-eye folds, don't put cream into those wrinkles. A medicated skin powder or cornstarch powder can substitute for the diaper rash cream, or you can alternate the cream and the powder.