CyclingNoob

Hi there guys and gals,

Just joined the forums as I'm in need of some advice from the experienced! (Skip to the bold if you can't be bothered to read the story!)

I never really cycle but as I'm in southern Italy on holiday right now, the empty and scenic roads were too tempting. I went out with no safety gear, not even a tshirt, and was cruising up and down these lovely winding roads. On my last stretch, I was going downhill really fast, tried to quickly grab my cap which was about to fly off my head, the wheels wobbled, and as my rear-brake hand was fixing my cap, my instant reaction was to hit the front brakes with my right hand, and needless to say, the front-wheel locked and I went flying across my handle bars like superman, and skidded on the road for a good 3-4 seconds.

As a result, I've completely scraped off all my skin on my elbows, the bottom palm of my left hand, the pinky side of my right hand palm, my left knee.
I was bleeding, and had to walk my way back home with a bent front wheel, which was about 8 minutes walk.

I immediately went to wash my wounds and try get the dirt out as much as I could. I then had a bottle of Savlon (Iodine) spray, and sprayed my wounds. OUCH. As it was a sunday, no pharmacies were open in this little town, so I had to wait util the next day to get bandaged up and get ibuprofen. What a horrible night of pain (and no sleep). The next day I went to buy sterile guaze pads, some fishnet bandage to keep it in place but also let my skin breathe, and had some savlon antiseptic cream on hand.

Since two days ago, I've covered all wounds (except my knee which isn't too bad) with sterile guaze pads, which I've covered in Savlon antiseptic cream before placing on the wound, and a fishnet bandage over them to keep them in place, as I heard it is best to keep these wounds moist rather than let them scab up. I'm just not sure if this method is working? My wounds are oozing yellowish/brownish liquid (im guessing the brownish color is blood), and I see it all over the guaze pad when I change them. I am taking a shower every day to wash away dead skin and to keep it clean, then I bandage up again with clean bandages as stated before. It stings but I am taking Ibuprofen to deal with the pain, which helps. Is my skin healing? Or am I inhibiting recovery? The guaze pads do not stick to the wound as I cover the guaze pads in Savlon antiseptic cream, but I can see wound is kind of gooey. It's day 3 of the injury, and day 2 of being bandaged up. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

jimc101

Would suggest going to a doctor, urgent care facility rather than asking an internet forum for medical advice Italy Guide: Hospitals & Clinics, All there is to know about Italian hospitals: All Italian cities and large

StanSeven

Yep. Get medical help. You likely have infections and that serious road rash leaves scaring.

Homebrew01

Here's some reading from experienced racers

https://www.bikeforums.net/33-road-bi...-question.html

chil2makefun

I'm not saying you shouldn't get medical help because your wounds are probably infected but keeping the wound moist definitely works. I had some serious road rash once on my right shin en calf. I kept the wound moist at all time and now it is all healed up and you can barely see it anymore. It is a lot more work than just letting it scab up but the results are way better.

CyclingNoob

I'm not sure if they are infected though, I sprayed them multiple times with iodine, and have kept them covered in antiseptic cream (which prevents infection). I've read somewhere that the oozing yellow goo is normal, as long as its not white pus. Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar. So that's how I'm keeping it moist - covered in anti-septic cream. Can't notice any foul smell or heat or swelling around my wounds.

If the oozing doesn't subside, I'll go to a hospital. Another question is though - how long should I keep it moist for? What are the signs that I should stop covering them up? I'm probably going to cover them in the day right now, and leave it open during the night to let them breathe a bit for day 3 onwards. The pain is noticeably subsiding and I can wipe away at my wounds with less pain now.

And I forgot to mention, I asked the pharmacist and she told me to apply the antiseptic cream to my guaze pads, and cover the wound with it, holding it in place with a fishnet bandage - she provided me with everything to do so. So, I have had some medical advice, although not from a hospital.

chil2makefun

You're right, as long as they don't look too bad you're probably good. Had the exact same thing. The only thing I did differently was I kept it covered up at all times so it couldn't get dry at any point. I didn't stop untill it was practically all healed up. Of course the patches became smaller over the time.

Nick94804

See if you can find some adaptic burn dressings. Use those against the skin, cover with gauze squares, hold in place with the mesh and tape. Change 2x daily and keep the wounds clean. When was your last tetanus shot?

OldTryGuy

Probably should seek professional help at this time but HONEY is Nature's natural antiseptic. Nothing lives in honey because it is so complex. I have been using it as a topical antiseptic without problems along with cinnamon as a coagulant to stop the bleeding.

BTW, a 1/4" thick slice of yellow onion applied on to swollen area can help reduce swelling.

CyclingNoob

Thank you for that, my sister studies herbal medicine and I am very much into natural remedies - as they have proven to be even more helpful than synthetic drugs/topicals. I may try this out, although I would prefer to use an organic raw honey, as all I have found around here is pasteurised mass- produced-crap honeys.

As for my tetanus shot - haven't had one in the past 10 years. Not really big on vaccines - I believe a lot of it is sold through promoting fear, after all, they make money from pushing vaccines. I think my risk of tetanus is extremely low considering this is a very rural and clean area. Please do not write and tell me I must get a tetanus booster. I will keep watch of my wounds. Around this forum, others have mentioned yellow/brownish ooze from the wound, which appears to be normal. It seems to be subsiding in ooze. Will update.

10 Wheels

Your Choice: See a Bike Mechanic or a Doctor.

StanSeven

Some of the medical advice here is better than the mechanical

gregf83 

It sounds like you did everything correctly. As long as you scrubbed out all the dirt in your first shower the risk of infection is probably low. Gauze and anti-biotic cream should work fine but is less convenient than tegaderm or duoderm which you can leave on the wound for multiple days. The wound will continue to weep for a few days depending on the size and depth.

CyclingNoob

Thanks for that.

I want to get Tegaderm but sadly no where here stocks it... Quite a remote place. I go back home to the UK in 5 days... So I'm trying to do what's best with the available resources until then.

I've just wiped my wounds with some disinfectant liquid the pharmacist also gave me, and re-applied a Savlon (antiseptic cream) saturated guaze over them, held in place with fishnet bandages.

Since the guaze isn't really letting it breathe the same way Tegaderm would, do you recommend I give the wound some time to breathe/air out during the day? Other than that, I've kept the guaze on 24/7, except for showering once a day (and just now for wiping with disinfectant liquid). My surrounding skin appears to be breathing great through the fishnet bandaging, and also gives room for the sterile guaze to somewhat breathe.

OldTryGuy

Manuka honey is very good.

gregf83 

I don't think you need to let it 'breathe' Tegaderm absorbs the fluid leaking out but I don't think there's much breathing going on. If you leave it open to the air scabs will form which then can crack or tear off. It should heal faster if you just keep it covered and moist.

BoSoxYacht

Tegaderm and honey works well.

StanSeven

The reason several people, including me, said to get medical attention is this wording. "All" is serious. Obviously it wasn't this bad.

Ricanfred

My brother went down and suffered serious road rash from his elbow to his forearm. Even after being attended at a hospital, it got infected to the point of two surgeries, intravenous antibiotics, and weeks in a hospital. I couldn't believe it as I've had road rash, even in my face, in the past with no issues. I would get checked by a professional if I was you.

CyclingNoob

"AWBVIOUSLY IT WASNT THIS BAD". Typical American.

There's a pic below. Scraped off all the skin on my elbows... Bleeding for 3 days.

It's stopped now, and everything is fine. 3 days of keeping it moist allowed some yellow plasma to build over my wound, and now that I let it breathe, it's dried out differently to a scab and is healing very nicely. .

Hope your day gets better StanSteven. Lol.

dmcdam

So is your cycling career over then?

linnefaulk

If the wounds start to smell, turn angry red or you get a fever, then there is an infection. Yellow drainage is usually normal. The biggest thing is to keep the wounds clean.

StanSeven

That is nothing really in terms of road rash.

It's certainly recovered well for someone that "skidded on the road for a good 3-4 seconds" and "scraped off all the skin"

Seriously glad you are doing better