Road Rash and Healing

tumbleweed77

hahaha.... it's not like i'm scrubbing w/ a brush everyday! ya, that would never allow a wound to heal! I used the gauze only for the initial cleaning and that wasn't scrubbing just a gentle rub to remove the road from the wound... what i meant by washing was just gently cleansing the area... i've got the wound clean and covered ... it's funny... i came here to present a possible way to heal a road rash and bam! you get bombarded by everyone's ideas... use a brush, keep it covered, leave it uncovered, wash it, don't... lol... just so you know i have some medical back ground... so hey, quit bashing me but i'm intrested to know what everyone thinks about wound healing.... i'm waiting for the old school iodine or hydrogen peroixide trick (kills tissue rather than heal)

bikelet

[QUOTE i'm waiting for the old school iodine or hydrogen peroixide trick (kills tissue rather than heal)[/QUOTE]
Betadine is an iodine solution btw and it has been mentioned in this conversation already. However in defence of Betadine, i have found it to work quite well as an antiseptic with my dealings with gravel rash as a Sports Trainer at netball

sogood

Well, there's definitely a place for brushing in wound management. Some wounds just need that brush treatment and one can not categorically say "no" to it for all cases nor use it on all cases. The problem with brushing is that most people can't stand the pain and would require a general anaesthetic to carry it out. At the end of the day, a well debrided wound is more desirable than a wound that still has contaminant in it.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

tumbleweed77

huh.. must have missed that one... it's my personal opinion about the iodine one. I've not come across studies that prove either opinion. As with all of this it's a choose for yourself as one way may be better for one but not for another.

sogood

It's true that peroxide and Betadine kill healthy cells, but their use in the first instance is to kill germs and clean the wound. After that, a saline rinse is all that's required at each dressing change unless there's evidence of others. After all, no one here is so old or sick and have such poor tissue regenerating ability that a touch of peroxide and Betadine would stop their wound healing.

BTW, there are papers showing the benefit of Betadine in prevention of wound infection. Old papers that you'll have to go to the library stack to find it.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

sideshow_bob

bring back mecurachrome i say! ;-p

i use betadine fairly regularly, but the best (for me) is friars balsam as long as you can stand the alcohol in it hitting a raw wound.

--brett

tumbleweed77

ah well it's a personal opinion in my case.. but while we've been sitting here discussing the best way to heal a wound i got back from a strenous ride and had to take the bandage (which stayed on for 3 sweaty hours but it absorbed some of the sweat) off my elbow and behold! i see new skin starting to form! so now i'm just going to let the air enjoy the rest of the healing process.

Tapeworm

For really bad road rash (deep and/or over a wide area) I would suggest actually going to a doctor. There are many many problems that can occur if large-scale infection takes place and should adequate medical treatment not occur there could be very serious complications arising from this.

Also letting a wound "heal in the air" is possibly one of the worst things you can do. Covered, treated wounds will always heal better and faster and generally without as much scar tissue (or do we want the scars for bragging rights?)

Sorry to sound dire but the missus is a doctor and I get to hear about this stuff! : ) Also there are some very interesting things that happen to people who don't wear a helmet...

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Ride like you mean it

tumbleweed77

okay well now on the topic of scars... my mom swears by vitamin E so i'm trying that on my now healing wound. since it's a vitmin it's supposed to aid in healing and help prevent scaring. my group and i had a mini debate about durabond and that liquid bandage stuff... this one guy was saying that it would be good for my open wound... ouch! i don't feel like putting superglue on an area that has no skin... in my opinion that is for paper cuts or other 'cuts' not scrapes..

sideshow_bob

hmm when i climbed a lot often you'd tear a callous from the finger tip, a wound usually about a half centimeter in diameter, though sometimes it'd be a little bigger. unless you wanted to take a week off then you'd just glue it back on with superglue.

--brett

matagi

Vitamin E works well, I used it on my face when I had stitches after an unintended over the handlebar manoeuvre earlier this year. I actually bought Vitamen E capsules and squeezed one out each day to apply to the wound.

Superglue is only good for cuts where you have two opposing edges (think of it as an alternative to stitches) so you are right to say it has no use in scrapes.

ehirsch83

The advanced healing pads work well, but I am still not fully sold on them- I usually leave them on a week and then end up taking them off b/c they are still ooozing everywhere(can get quite messy on sheets and stuff). I also highly highly highly recommend using Calendula gel to keep it from scarring(can put on open wounds) and also Arnica beads(you put them under your tounge) and Arnica gel for the pain. (but you can not put the arnica gel on anything that is still open, it will burn!!!)

Burble

Yeh brush is bad.
I had an off on my old mountain bike at 40kph on the gravel - now that was bad.

basically fell when the front tyre lost traction around a corner (i took it too fast)and slid on my side (stayed clipped in and had a large backpack on so it was dificult to roll out of it.

Came back home had a shower, on all the bad parts, patting gause on them. Then after the shower (which cleaned off a lot of the dirt) used saline solution to clean as best i could. I realised that there were stones embedded in my skin, so headed off to the doctor for him to use tweezers to get them out and apply anticeptic (betadine solution).

Also highly reccomend the Vid E cream for anti-scaring after thigns stop weaping. My leg weaped for about 4 days - but it was a particualry bad fall. Make sure that if you can keep your wound clean (may require steril gause and saline) daily.

But as others have said watch out for infection.

good luck - hope the scars are minimal (unless u don't want them to be )

tumbleweed77

well, my wound healed without infection. all the superficial scrapes healed with no scaring, but the deep patch (about 2 inches long) has a nice flat scar. While I love battle scars.. I'm curious to know what methods you all use to reduce scaring once it's taken place