Road Rash - ouch!

I find the best course of action is to get it to dry out as soon as possible, as well as making sure it doesn't get infected. If it's under clothing, use a good quality sterile, non-stick dressing to cover the entire area. Anything that sticks to it will pretty much reset the healing process in my experience.

I have sometimes rigged up slings to hold an arm or leg up while sleeping, so that it doesn't stick to the sheets.

I am certainly no expert, but I thought I would share my recent experience if it is any value to you.

I had my first case of road rash back in the first week of April and it is still healing. That's two months now :eek: but I think it is finally starting to heal internally. Surficially the skin is now just a pink color.
I thought I could clean and dress the wounds myself, but I ended up with a hematoma that developed after a week which caused me to see a doctor to have it drained on three occasions.

I agree with cheesy.
Keep a bandage on the wound and keep applying a topical antiseptic.
I used a 3M tangaderm which is a clear film without an absorption pad. I won't make that mistake again. We used larger thicker pads with medical tape when my wife recently had a crash and her wounds healed better. When she changed the pads you could a lot a infected drainage on the pads, whereas, the tangaderm did not help "dry out" or absorb the fluid.

Best wishes and a speedy recovery

By the way.......even though it was painful slow recovery it did not stop me from continuing to ride so I did not lose much condition.

Ouch indeed! Here's some info that should help you heal up.

velonews.com3909.1.htmlOpen ↗

rule62 said:

Ouch indeed! Here's some info that should help you heal up.

velonews.com3909.1.htmlOpen ↗

This article looks like good advice from my experience. For smaller areas I have also used J & J's Advanced Healing adhesive pads, which also form a gelatenous foam where in contact with moisture from the wound like the Duoderm, they are unfortunately smaller, but are available at most drugstore chains. Found that healing time and comfort was much improved over conventional dressings, particualry if I want to keep riding.

It's contact with the air that's causing your abrasions to keep hurting likewise when your shower them.

What you need to do is keep the site covered and moist by using tegaderm or similar water-proof dressings and leave them alone. There is no need to keep pouring antiseptic on them or change dressings too often. You get them properly clean in the first place, the sooner the better after they happen and you cover them and keep them moist and you let nature take it's course.

Drying them out and letting scabs form is absolutely the wrong way to go. Here are some good links with full info. Regards Jay.

http://www.freewheel.com/mvw/cure.htm

http://www.obra.org/wound_care.html

otherworld said:

It's contact with the air that's causing your abrasions to keep hurting likewise when your shower them.

What you need to do is keep the site covered and moist by using tegaderm or similar water-proof dressings and leave them alone. There is no need to keep pouring antiseptic on them or change dressings too often. You get them properly clean in the first place, the sooner the better after they happen and you cover them and keep them moist and you let nature take it's course.

Drying them out and letting scabs form is absolutely the wrong way to go. Here are some good links with full info. Regards Jay.

http://www.freewheel.com/mvw/cure.htm

http://www.obra.org/wound_care.html

^^

Bizump....spot on. 🙂

I liked the tangaderm, but would have liked it better if it had an absorbent pad to absorb the topical infection.

My case was bad enough that my doctor put me on antibiotics from the infection.

I suppose with lesser injuries the tangaderm would do nicely.

Felt_Rider said:

I liked the tangaderm, but would have liked it better if it had an absorbent pad to absorb the topical infection.

My case was bad enough that my doctor put me on antibiotics from the infection.

I suppose with lesser injuries the tangaderm would do nicely.

Sure, you can get even shallow grazes infected. A few people (maybe even your doctor) get confused and think the horrible smelly gunk that oozes out from under the tegaderm is to do with infection but it's the stuff that wants to form a scab but can't dry out. You can make a little track for it to escape a bit and put an absorbent pad over it like paper towel etc. and just changing that.

I've used another good one too that's semi absorbent a bit like tegderm but with white gauze on the outside. It might be duoderm - not sure but it's got a blue grid over the white peel off bit .... works well.

Try spraying it with Bactine. I had road rash all over my thigh (very painful) and found it to be painful, and then itchy. This spray will help with all stages of the ouch. And, when it starts to get itchy when it's healing, this spray almost feels minty and stops the itching. It won't make it sting...don't worry.

I body-surfed the concrete for about a block or 2 going 80mph from a motorcycle crash. The result, a huge 'sanding' on my leg, ass, and shoulder. I went to the hospital for them to 'scrub' out the wound. Then, I had to spend about 6 weeks tending to the wounds. Here was the process:

-Wake up
-Pop 3-4 T'3s (Tylenol 3 - codeine), I was only supposed to take 2, but I needed a little extra for the next process
-Go in shower and soap up wound to take off the ooze that would normally turn into a monster scab (no good).
-Let air dry (just a little)
-Apply a liberal layer of silver sulfadiazine (this is good stuff)
-Put on non-stick fabric layer
-Put on layer of gauze
-Medical tape

Then, try to survive the pain of the day. Lot's of codeine (this stuff starts giving you terrible side-effects after a few weeks)
In the evening, DO IT ALL AGAIN!

6 weeks later.......mostly healed but the skin is thin and will never be the same again.

This is a little extreme compared to the average cycling rash, but the ideas translate.

After a bicycle incident and road rash I can't even imagine enduring a motorcycle crash.

80 mph......man that must have been intense pain.

A good product to invest in is silverlon. www.silverlon.com It is a product Dr. Jeff Spencer, USPS team and Lance's doctor the past 6 years, has used for road rash/lacerations, etc.