I have a nice scratch on my belly caused by a branch. I was thinking of doing a scientific experiment to see what helps it heal best. The plan is to rub Savlon on one end and leave the other end untreated to see which heals quickest.

I then thought I could try Savlon vs Vasaline

So which does STW think will work best to help a scratch heal?

Your votes please!

Get a dog to lick it 😛

Cicatrin powder for grazes, out of those two Savlon probably best.

superglue

Sudocrem I used it last year when I had a gravel rash on my thigh seemed to work though that could be the placebo effect

Surgical spirit (it’ll leave a cracking scar 😉 )

Film dressings – they double healing speed. Granuflex extra thin, tegaderm, opsite are three brand names

isn’t honey mean to be almighy in the healing stakes? sure i remember seeing honey dessings at a silly high price!

Yep, honey.

Try the Manuka type or organic.

TJ’s advice worked for me on my recent wound.

Try dribbling a bit of aftershave into it…something with a fairly high alcohol content…

dog lick works for me every time!

I think I’ll try to remember TJ’s advice….

Aloe vera.

Keep it clean and dressings as mentioned by TJ.

A healthy dose of MTFU.

Have you been falling off again? Prehaps you should take up a more sedate hobby, like knitting. Ohh hold on, that involves sharp pointy objects. Better give that one a miss.

Matt

I hope you are well? I am Guiding in Greece at the moment. I will be back in the UK soon and still fancy that meet-up at Lordswood.

think you will find its hand up for vaseline every time!

Honey or icing sugar is good for infected wounds I believe. Can’t do much harm!

Vinegar one end, Worcester Sauce the other

No, listen to TandemJeremy. Granuflex or another film dressing. Although an expensive resource if all you’ve done is scratch your tummy

Vitamin E oil will help reduce the scarring – but you probaly don’t want that.

A combination listerine, deep heat and a dash of salted fresh chillies.
It’s more of a preventative cure though.

basically keeping it moistand not letting it dry out will speed healing time and reduce scarring, so big as plaster all the way across.

I agree with some of the suggestions for alternatives and might try them on the next cut I get. for the moment can we concentrate on Savlon vs Vasaline?

So far :

Vasaline 1 Savlon 0

I have three cut on my knee, I could try three different methods simultaneously and get back to you with the most effective!?

Okay – you do the dog licking, honey and aftershave options.

This could be the start of the STW medical trials.

superglue
Which is actually a good suggestion – wasn’t it invented during the Vietnam war to patch up soldiers?

Superglue is good for closing cuts up. It doesn’t aid the healing of the skin though*.

* I think. I might try that on the next set of cuts.

No I guess not.

So you need superglue and a salivating dog?

My fastest healing cuts have always been the ones I kept moist (presumably like this granuflex stuff would) and closed, unfortunately I rarely can keep dressings on for more than half a day so I tend to just cover them and they take a bit longer and scar a bit more, but I’m not too worried about scars so provided it doesnt get infected it’s all ok!

Maggots.

Which is actually a good suggestion – wasn’t it invented during the Vietnam war to patch up soldiers?

No, it was discovered during the WWII when trying to find a substance for sniper scope lenses.

Tegaderm is good. I had that covering some stitches for a week, & they healed superbly.

given my wound was a vesectomy, getting a dog to lick it would probably get me on some sort of register.

getting a dog to lick it would probably get me on some sort of register.

Kennel Club?

No, it was discovered during the WWII when trying to find a substance for sniper scope lenses.

?? I was under the impression it was used for patchign up soldiers too, maybe it wasn’t made FOR that but they definitely used it for that (or the two TV programmes Ive seen about the subject were mistaken, or I’ve been dreaming about watching TV – both possible)

Superglue for sniper scope lenses? What? Sneaking up and putting it on enemy scopes for jolly japes?

😉

Can’t say I had heard that story though…

Scabs

Super glue, Krazy glue, Eastman 910 and similar glues are all a special type of glue called cyanoacrylates. Cyanoacrylates were invented in 1942 by Dr. Harry Coover of Kodak Laboratories during experiments to make a special extra-clear plastic suitable for gun sights. He found they weren’t suitable for that purpose, so he set the formula aside. Six years later he pulled it out of the drawer thinking it might be useful as a new plastic for airplane canopies. Wrong again–but he did find that cyanoacrylates would glue together many materials with incredible strength and quick action, including two very expensive prisms when he tried to test the ocular qualities of the substance. Seeing possibilities for a new adhesive, Kodak developed “Eastman #910” (later “Eastman 910”) a few years later as the first true “super glue.” In a now-famous demonstration conducted in 1959, Dr. Coover displayed the strength of this new product on the early television show “I’ve Got a Secret,” where he used a single drop placed between two steel cylinders to lift the host of the show, Garry Moore, completely off of the ground.

So it was tested for scopes, but not actually USED. It’s first pratical application was as a glue.

Still – it is a fact I shall store away for later use 🙂