Cutaneous wound management remains a major concern due to uncontrolled inflammation and bacterial infection in clinical care. A desirable hydrogel dressing with antibacterial and antioxidative properties can drive wound healing by inhibiting infection and inflammation. Herein, a multifunctional hydrogel based on polylysine- graft -cysteine (EPL-SH)/oxidized dextran (ODex) was fabricated for promoting skin tissue regeneration. The engineered hydrogel possessed versatile properties including tunable gelation time (60–300 s), typical rheological behavior, suitable swelling and degradation progress, injectable and self-healing ability. The unique hydrogels also displayed promising tissue adhesiveness, high cell affinity, excellent antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, the in vivo full-thickness skin defect experiment demonstrated the simple-to-implement injectable hydrogels could significantly promoting wound healing by improving the collagen deposition and angiogenesis. The manufacture of our multifunctional hydrogels dressing affords a new strategy for improving efficacy of cutaneous wound treatment. [Display omitted] • The oxidized dextran and thiolated ε-poly- l -lysine and were successfully synthesized. • A multi-functional injectable self-healing Dex/EPL hydrogel dressing was designed. • The hydrogel exhibited good antibacterial and free radical scavenging capacity. • The hydrogel has better efficacy on promoting wound repair than commercial dressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]