Got a case of ‘gravel rash’ on my left leg, ’tis a bit nasty and sticky at the moment… should I leave it open to the air to dry out a bit, or cover it over with some gauze and bandage?

cheers 🙂

Cover definitely, keep it soft and moist.

leave it open as much as possible but get a proper breathable dressing for night time – there’s nothign worse than sticking to the sheets.

Neither

Hydrocolloid dressing is best or film

Hydrocolloid – granuflex or duoderm, film opsite or tegaderm.

You need to keep it moist and protected – this speeds up healing dramatically and reduces pain and scarring. Should be able to get something of this ilk from a decent sized chemist.

This is proper evidence based practice. if you can’t get to the chemist then vaseline under gauze is better than a dry dressing

No way. Leave it open to the air. Wear shorts.

*see’s who else has posted*

*backs away from thread*

I’m confused… any doctors in the house? 🙂

something like melolin I would have thought.
I wished I’d got some in the bathroom a fortnight ago when I skinned my elbow!

Though when I showed the practice nurse my scabby wound the next day she just said put a dry dressing on it.
Could always MTFU I suppose as well. 😉

Melolin FTW. Great stuff. Allows the wound to breath, but keeps all the nasty germs off a lovely bit of fresh flesh!

Oh, and MTFU you big girl.

TJ is right.

Keeping dry = easier.

Keeping moist = better.

I discovered the above when I took some skin off my knee in 2 places – I kept 1 dry adn 1 moist (vaseline & dressing IIRC) and the difference in speed & healing was clear.

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/04/how-to-deal-with-road-rash/

I agree with TJ. I went with the rather crap leave it dry out advice and it took forever to heal, the scab kept cracking and the wound opening again and left me with a nasty scar (which my GF does not dig).

but you don’t get scabs to pick if you go down the moist route 😉

+1 for TJ,nursing research shows he is right,as he knows.

Oh yes regular application of vaseline helped a bit as well. Just about finished picking the scabs now

Vinegar applied liberally twice an hour with some MTFU?

+ another one for TJ, the wife who certainly knows what she is doing always covers “mishaps” with tegaderm.

Its semi permeable so lets it breath and heal, but stops you abrading it (scaring) or leaking all over the sheets (and getting slapped by aforementioned wifey).

And just to re-iterate, it is NURSE’S advice you need, not doctor’s.
Drs generally know eff all about dressings, as I have just demonstrated

psychle – Member

I’m confused… any doctors in the house?

I am a nurse – and this is our area of expertise not a doctors

Snap DocRobster 🙂

Melolin is rubbish. It still sticks and then you tear off the scab with the dressing. After the last time I got gravel rash, an A&E nurse advised me to keep a sterile wound brush, saline and a stash of hydrocoloid dressings in my first aid kit.

Good advice,I always carry sterile gauze and saline for clean up,and steristrips for wound closure,then Duoderm or similar for final dressing.

thanks chaps… off to Boots for some hydrocoloid dressings then 🙂

Sorry for doubting you Mr TJ (though I didn’t really, was just a few too many conflicting answers 😆 )

Ooh,if you use these dressings,don’t panic when they go greeny yellow and look manky,that’s it doing it’s job.There’s no need to change the dressing unless it falls off,or there are signs of infection,i.e. swelling pain and local increased redness.HTH

I recommend Opsite (not tried similar ones) but NOT the spray version. The spray stuff hurts like a bastard as it’s obviously got alcohol in it to evaporate off. Generally though it forms a barrier that keeps the crap out but lets the wound dry.

Clingfilm.

Seriously.

TJ has it but the most important thing is to get it clean too, any muck left behind and it won’t heal. If there’s a lot of pealed back skin then get it looked at a Minor Injuries Unit or Walk in Centre.

Clingfilm is for burns.

There’s naught left in there that I can see (wasn’t actually caused by gravel, more pine needles/branches I think!), it’s quite oozy and weepy right now, a bit gross 😆

Give it a good clean though it’s not just what you can see.

cynic-al – Member

TJ is right.

Can we have that as a sticky?

After removing a substantial amount of skin from my shoulder in france a few years ago, keep it moist!
There’s nothing worse than trying to move a body part which has a big scab that doesn’t want to bend.

The chemist in Morzine supplied some gel covered mesh type stuff, which combined with a normal bandage over the top, worked very well.
The mesh stuff stopped the bandage from sticking, while still soaking up anything that weeped out.
The scab did still dry out a bit, and it was painful to move my shoulder until I’d worked up a bit of sweat to soften the scab, but it was no where near as bad as the day I thought it was heeled enough to not bother keeping it dressed!

And in case anybody wants to see my scabby shoulder, clicky here

I usually use Hydrocolloid dressings for this stuff (less of habit than it used to be!) they are the business. slap on and forget, they fall off when they’re done (5-7 days), and you’ve got shiny new skin underneath.

bit trickier when it’s on an elbow and you get creases to the edge and the glop oozes out anyway.

The “gel covered gauze” is a silicone gauze and is also the business, I was given one when I skinned a finger. It goes under a dry dressing, but doesn’t stick to the wound. when you replace the derssing, you can keep the silicone (don’t know whether it’s better to keep it clean or wash it – TJ?) and put clean dressing over the top.

You’re all either frustrated nurses, or really up to date with wound care, or…you all fall off a lot.

Is this thread going to be on record as the most times ANYONE has ever agreed with TJ? For the record, I think he is right, though I reckon if the OP had worn a helmet then his injuries might have been less.

I did mine at Swinley on Saturday, so a sort of slightly gravelly / sandy burn rather than a road rash. I scrubbed it in the bath with tea tree oil Original Source shower gel and a nail brush, cos I’m gnarr! and since then it’s just scabbed over. Are you saying I’ve done the wrong thing? Shall I pick it all off and then cover in vaseline and cling film to see what happens?

Seriously – how soon after the event do you need to get this Tegaderm stuff applied for good effect, I’m guessing day or two after isn’t much cop ‘cos it’ll have scabbed by then?

When I came off one Saturday last July and took a chunk off my arm. I left it uncovered for a couple of days, kept it clean (hurt to high hell). On Monday I got told off by the woman in admin – she asked me what I had done, and what they’d said at the hospital. I pointed out it was just a flesh wound and I’d not gone to hospital for such a minor thing, she pointed out it wasn’t supposed to be oozing yellow and sent me to the doctors.

Then the nurse told me off, gave me a tetnus jab, told me off some more, then put me on heavy antibiotics. On the plus side, I still have the scars! \o/

CHB – Member

Is this thread going to be on record as the most times ANYONE has ever agreed with TJ? For the record, I think he is right, though I reckon if the OP had worn a helmet then his injuries might have been less.

*chuckles*

When I had a similar graze a few years ago the nurse at the local practice gave me some Intrasite gel and some ace big sticky plasters that covered and sealed the whole lot. I was gobsmacked at how quickly it healed day by day.

apply scotch liberally

again – I’m a doctor – and what I would do in this situation is…. ASK A NURSE…

I’m not a doctor or a nurse but I do injure myself fairly constantly and hydrocolloid dressings are like black magic.

Not that you want to try and heal a wound with black magic, you’ll probably just set yourself on fire.