Road Rash and Healing

[tumbleweed77]

Well, I had my first tumble over the handle bars at 25 mph onto the street. I was very lucky and only sustained 1 patch of road rash to my forearm/elbow. the center was pretty deep and a week later it's still oozing. I did some research to find some good healing tools and I came across some reccommendations for Johnson and Johnson FirstAid Advanced Care, Advanced healing Adhesive pads... so i went out and bought some. OH MY GOSH! I just got home and am truly amazed! it's this rubberly like pad that you stick to your wound and you place your hand over it to warm and "melt" it to your skin... it is the coolest thing ever... you can leave it on for up to a week and it cushions the wound too... i don't know if it will help or not with healing my gash, but it already seems like it will... check it out!

 

[JAPANic]

Well, I had my first tumble over the handle bars at 25 mph onto the street. I was very lucky and only sustained 1 patch of road rash to my forearm/elbow. the center was pretty deep and a week later it's still oozing. I did some research to find some good healing tools and I came across some reccommendations for Johnson and Johnson FirstAid Advanced Care, Advanced healing Adhesive pads... so i went out and bought some. OH MY GOSH! I just got home and am truly amazed! it's this rubberly like pad that you stick to your wound and you place your hand over it to warm and "melt" it to your skin... it is the coolest thing ever... you can leave it on for up to a week and it cushions the wound too... i don't know if it will help or not with healing my gash, but it already seems like it will... check it out!

My wife had about 10 square cm of skin gravelled off her elbow..she did a bit of research on the Japanese racing sites and found this remedy.

No guaze.
Lots of vasoline.
Cover with glad wrap to keep your clothes/ bed clean.
After 5 days you have new skin, no scab.
After a few weeks you have a new patch of skin that will show lack of suntan only.

Worked for her....

 

[tumbleweed77]

yes, i've heard similar remedies but i don't like all the mess that goes w/ all of that.... these special bandaids are supposed to keep your wound moist w/ natural body fuids and it breathes unlike vasaline which is an oil based producted that blocks air flow .. especially with the plastic wrap...

 

[sogood]

If it still oozes at one week, I would consider any underlying infection.

Good wound dressing provides the environment for healthy tissues to regenerate, but won't treat an infection.

If there's no improvement in the degree of ooze, I would suggest that you should get it reviewed.

 

[tumbleweed77]

yes, in general. It doesn't look infected yet (and yes i know what i'm looking for). I'm going to give it till the end of this week cause i let the scab dry out and so all the edges were all rough and caught on things and pulled off causing the underlying tissues to reopen. so now i'm trying a new method w/ these cool bandaid things. the first one i took off already and it pulled up all the old scab like gook and i cleaned it out and put on a new one.... so i'll just have to wait and see.

 

[sogood]

Good luck!

 

[kickingintouch]

howz the bike?

 

[tumbleweed77]

you know... i think my bike faired better than i did... only some superfical scratches to the brake levers... nothing mechanically messed up. only reason for this is that something caught in the front brakes locking my front wheel... so the bike was basically stationary when it sent me flying

 

[sideshow_bob]

If it still oozes at one week, I would consider any underlying infection.

i'll second that. about a year ago i had a decent off and lost quite a bit of skin. i was more concerned about my leg which was the worst off, however had a small about 5cmx5cm patch across my elbow and back of my forearm. i treated it with antiseptic and dressing, and a week later figured i was healing pretty well.

i felt really bad for one whole day, fever, headache etc and the next morning woke up to find my elbow looked like it had a tennis ball jammed inside of it and all a very ugly red.

apparently the membranes in the elbow are quite close to the skin and very susceptible to infection, leading to bursitis. two courses of antibiotics later and getting it drained by a needle and syringe, my advice if you have got even a minor infection now take care of it!

--brett

 

[sogood]

i'll second that. about a year ago i had a decent off and lost quite a bit of skin...

Yes, all road rash wounds are what's considered to be contaminated wounds. Under certain situations, it's worthwhile treating it with a course of A/Bs. I would be very suspicious of a continuing ooze.

 

[matagi]

The first thing that needs to be done is to differentiate between deep and superficial wounds - deep wounds are those where there is fat or muscle or bone showing. These must be assessed and treated by a doctor.

Superficial wounds are a different story. They can be very painful to touch because when you scrape off a layer of skin, you expose the nerve endings which are very sensitive. The first thing to do is to clean the wound well. This does NOT mean scrubbing it with a brush or something similar - this will only cause more trauma and force any contaminants deeper into the tissues. The best thing to do is to wash the wound under gently running water, check the wound and wash again if necessary. Once you are satisfied the wound is clean, apply something like Betadine ointment and cover with a dressing. The wound will ooze - this is normal and part of the body's defence and repair mechanism. Do not let the wound dry out and form a scab as it can crack and shrink and slow healing. If you can, keep the same dressing on for a couple of days - the wound will stay moist underneath and will be be healing nicely.

If the wound starts oozing pus, or becomes swollen, red and begins to throb, then that is a sign of infection and you should seek medical attention.

 

[tumbleweed77]

yikes... that sounds painful, how'd that happen?.... as with any infection, it's better to take care of it early rather than wait... as i've said though, it's not infected YET so i'm just keeping it clean and covered, but the minute i suspect one i'll be seein' a doctor no problem. thanks for the advise

 

[cyclepromo]

Yes as mentioned if its still oozing after one week I think you have some problems.

One thing not mentioned which is key.

Clean out that wound right after the crash. As rough as it sounds you should get home and get in the shower-soap and water. It'll likely sting like hell but you need to clean it out to avoid a longer healing process. I still remember one older first aid women at some races who loved to clean out the wounds with a brush!!! It got rid of all the gravel.

Good luck.

 

[tumbleweed77]

youch! a brush? well, i guess that would work if you have gravel stuck inside... i tend to like the gauze/warm water and soap method... i'm so used to having to deal with rips from years of gymnastics that my pain threshold is pretty high... i make sure to wash it out w/ antibacterial soap about 2 times a day... though w/ this band aid thing i'm trying you have to leave it on for 2 or 3 days so it actually keeps the wound really clean... I'm actually seeing some improvement.

 

[matagi]

No! NOT a brush! It will add to the tissue trauma and can also drive any contaminants in the wound further in. Gentle works best in this case, I don't know where or how this myth about scrubbing road rash with a brush came from, but it is definitely the wrong thing to do.

Tumbleweed, you do not need to keep washing the wound. If you do it properly the first time, then all you need to do is cover it with a dressing, LEAVE IT ALONE and let nature take it's course. If you keep washing it, you disrupt the healing tissue, which is why, I suspect, the wound is still oozing after a week. The constant washing is actually delaying the healing process.

 

[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]

No! NOT a brush! It will add to the tissue trauma and can also drive any contaminants in the wound further in. Gentle works best in this case, I don't know where or how this myth about scrubbing road rash with a brush came from, but it is definitely the wrong thing to do.

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.

 

[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.