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I came off my road bike on a mountain hairpin on Monday and hit the deck pretty hard then slid for a bit on my hands and arm/hip.
Normally I'd just have a shower and let it dry for as long as possible (we've all done it, eh?), but my hand was pretty serious and I decided to go to the hospital; who did a fine job in cutting the excess skin off and cleaning all the wounds - which felt more like one of those lemon zesters and some vinegar.
The hospital put this sticky backed soft gauze stuff on top of the impregnated mesh and wadding which I couldn't find in boots.
Any ideas about where to buy the real shnizzle? 'cause at the moment I feel like a patchwork doll of peeling zinc oxide tape and bits of mesh and wadding.
think there called gauze pads
Mepore dressings? That's what I've generally used.
Where are you mate?
Inadine is great short term but can over granulate the wound.
I would have thought a simple NAD non adherant dressing would be fine as it allows drying of the wound whilst keeping it 'marginally sterile'
Go back to your local doctors the nurse will be able to redress the wound, that's what the A+E people told me when I did similar to my face.
Primapore type stuff is perfect a good chemist will have it but yes Minor Injruies Unit Walk in Centre or Nurse at GPs will sort you out.
Yeah mepore are ideal.
Unless they are going nasty....don't waste the surgeries time with something you ( as you clearly are doing) are quite capable of sorting out yourself.
If you are local to West Sussex can get some to you?
Spray-on plaster stuff is pretty good to stop it weeping everywhere. When I was in France last year I was using disinfectant spray with the plaster spray over the top once it had dried a bit.
Occasionally you will get a silicon-type mesh which is supposed to be non-absorbent and acts as a barrier between the damaged skin and the dressings to stop them scabbing together. I was told to leave this on when changing the dressings.
Wound management these days tends towards using clear semi-permeable dressings to keep things moist. If it were me, I'd use cling film with some anti biotic ointment for a day or two, then just use clean moisturiser to keep it all supple while it heals.
Tattoo parlours will sell various ointments designed for exactly this process...
I'm a nursey by the way..
When I've needed to I've followed tha advice within "Bicycling Medicine", and this is to keep road rash covered with a none-adherent dressing for a few days 24/7, then covered at night, open in the day, before open 24/7 until healed.
The book is American, so does mention the use of antibiotic creams that I think are prescription only in the UK.
For dressings that don't stick to wounds in the UK, Melolin is a good start, if you can get some vaseline gauze that can be used under standard dressings to reduce how much "stick" occurs as well.
Wound might look manky for a while, any increase in pain, temperature, illness, spreading redness etc needs to be seen by doctor as might indicate infection needing antibiotics.
Thanks guys.. the pharmacist in Boots was rubbish... I just called Lloyds and they seemed to be more knowledgeable.
PS the hospital was in Malaga (home) and I am supposed to be working this week (am in London) but might take a sofa day to sort things. The Doc there said to redress my arm etc every 12hours and use this iodine stuff, but not to use anything on the deep hand one for the mo.
Moist wound healing is supposed to be much better than leaving it open to the air. Its supposed to heal quicker with less scarring. It also suits road rash, since when it dries, movement just cracks it again anyway.
Once its proper clean, go for vaseline gauze or a hydrocolloidal dressing.
Leave it covered for 3-5 days before changing the dressing for another and continuing. It looks disgusting, like you're growing puss, but what you're actually looking at is accretion of body cells. If it doesn't smell, gives no pain and isn't hot and swollen, despite the yellow muck, its NOT infected.
Plenty of reading on this topic in T'internet.
As mentioned above, spray-on plaster is good and seems to promote quick healing.
However.... when you spray it on nasty gravel-rash it feels like you have accidentally switched the can for a flamethrower...
Yeah, Spray plaster should come with a bite down stick!
I tend to use that for trail rash these days. You can cover whatever area you need to, and its flexible, making it the perfect temporary dressing for elbows and knees in particular.
Second [url= http://www.dressings.org/Dressings/melolin.html ]Melolin[/url].
I agree with science officer. Hydrocolloid is the thing - duoderm extra thin is the TJ tried and tested product. Best put on soon after the crash tho before the wound has dried out.
I've used big Mepore self-adhesive dressings quite a lot. But they can be a bugger to get hold of sometimes. IME larger Boots sometimes have stuff in stock, but not on display. Buy it buy the box 😉
What I'd really like is a source for that tubular net stuff to hold dressings in place - Elastinet or similar? If you need dressings in place when riding then tape etc just don't cut it really. Need net stuff, or failing that a cohesive bandage
Call local GP surgery or NHS direct advice for spares from the local non emergency drop in centre (most big cities have 1 or 2 like Bristol)
(Get well soon)
+1 talls