Removing dressings when healed into the scab

After an alcohol/skateboard/tarmac incident at the weekend I've ended up with a dressing on my knee instead of skin. I was advised to gently soak it to remove it.

45 minutes in the shower and now out of hot water I still have a pretty red scab with bits of the gauze built into it.

Before I get the Stanley knife out to remove it, are there any better methods?

MTFU?

sorry. Had to be done. I've got a scab like that but i didn't dress it. All i'd recommend is tweezers, and a short sharp rrrrrrrip.

nope – just ignore it now or use a film dressing. the scab performs a function – leave it

TJ – Ignore it? Do I just leave the gauze bit in there and put any fresh dressings over the top? I assume it will all fall off at some point with the rest of the scab.

If there's something alien in your body, the body will do a bloody good job of getting rid.

isn't there a theory that picking a scab makes it heal more quickly but is more likely to leaver a bigger/more distinct scar…

*girls may like scars, however apparently the prefer fast ones ……….

The gauze will happily stay in the scab. It won't get incorporated into your body

I would cut away what you can but leave the scab intact if at all possible – less scarring that way.

Unfortunately thats one of those " you don't want to start from there" moments – you had the wrong dressing on. Oops

Film or hydrocolloid dressings for gravel rash – no scab. no scar, fast healing

On a second point – speeding recovery.

A year or so ago I did an experiment with Savlon vs Vasaline vs Nothing to help heal a series of three almost identical cuts across my belly. The one coated twice a day in Vasaline healed quickest.

Is the same likely to be true for large grazes or are they best left dry?

Just ignore the gauze and redress it – you'll just mess it up trying to get the bits out.
However – it's not to late to use a film dressing, as TJ suggested (iirc tagaderm – you can buy them as single sheets from a pharmacy, tho' Boots do their own version but you might be more limited in sizes).
They work an absolute treat – the scab underneath softens and you'll get some liquid build up (might need to apply a new one after 3/4/5 days if it starts to leak), but because everything softens there's no solid scab to get knocked off or crack up and weep – and it keeps your clothes/bed sheets clean (ok, it doesn't change them, stick 'em in the washing machine, etc…). After a week or so there'll probably be nice new skin underneath. Might take a little faffing to cover somewhere bendy like your knee, but probably worth a try..

I will wander into the nearest pharmacy and get some dressings. I wonder if I can get some from my local A&E, I have a loyalty card with them.

TJ – Starting from the wrong place – Agreed. I used what I had in the first aid kit that came with the car because I was too lazy to walk over to A&E and my wife wouldn't let me take the skateboard with me.

you'll get some liquid build up

… in some really interesting colours. First time I used one, when I came to change the dressing I thought it was massively infected.

BBB – your wife is a spoilsport. Skateboarding into A&E drunk would have been amusing for all.

Leave it. It'll come off with the scab when it's ready. Your body will get rid of most things without a problem.

I went on a conservation workcamp about 20-odd years ago – met the OH there, in fact 🙂 – clearing gorse from slopes off the back of cheddar gorge. First day spent avoiding getting spiked (despite gloves), after that, kinda give up trying to avoid it and get used to it. Probably took a couple of weeks for all the little fragments of thorn to work their way out of my hands, accompanied by a little bit of pus !

vaseline is great at softening up scabs so you can remove them (had to last year so I could get stitches out below the scab before going on holiday). Tried water/savlon/picking it for a couple of days then a nurse mentioned vaseline, scab came clean off the next morning.