psycholist

Got me a shiny new handsome road rash today, about 10 inches worth, along with a big fat patella. Oh well. Bike's fine which is all that really matters, right? And I won't have to shave that leg for a week.

Trouble is, I don't have any Second Skin patches, or anything like what is advised these days. All I do have is a bottle of Liquid Skin and some triple antibiotic ointment.
I read this evening on a med site that although you do need to keep the injured area moist and avoid scabbing, some now believe that the antimicrobials actually hinder healing. Which is 180 from what we were being told not too long ago. I was laughing about my spill with my local BSO and he said either should be fine. Well, I tried the liquid bandage...when it tells you on the label about slight stinging, what they really mean is you are about to relive the pain of the accident itself. I do honestly think it is worse than the rash itself by far, not to mention the fact that it also contains oil of clove (??!!), meaning I think of Easter ham each time I smell my leg. My question is, is this stinging an indication of further damage being done? Use to be that hydrogen peroxide was poured over everything and anything, and that good old foaming and searing pain assured you that healing had begun. And again, now we are told that HP is no good, actually destroying more cells.

So, I have the ointment, I have the Liquid Bandage, nothing else at the moment and it will be another day or two before that will change.
Any advice?

Tom Stormcrowe

Liquid skin isn't recommended for something that big, it's for little nicks! Do you have any telfa pads? I'd definitely go with a nonstick of some kind. Wrap some Curlex gauze over the telfa pad(s) and secure in place with an ace bandage is how I'd take care of 10 inches of road rash.......

Machka 

I used my triple anti-biotic for the first week or so, then switched to a combination of zinc oxide cream and the triple anti-biotic. I put the zinc oxide cream around the edges where it was just starting to heal, and dabbed the triple anti-biotic in the middle. That seemed to do the trick.

ronjon10

I got road rash a week and a half ago. I didn't have (and hadn't heard of ) any Tegaderm patches. I did have brave soldier and gauze pads, so I gooped up the rash with the brave soldier, covered it in gauze (also glopped in brave soldier) too keep it moist. I got to the pharmacy to get the Tegaderm the next day and no scabbing had started. If that antibiotic ointment is similar to the brave soldier, that should work for you.

HardyWeinberg

First and foremost, and it's probably not too late for this, wash wash wash that rash! I had a wipeout a couple months ago, evidence of which is nearly gone from my knee (give or take, it just looks like dry skin now but it's flexible), which I washed scrupulously in the shower afterwards, and still scabby on the elbow, which I couldn't reach as well so I slacked off on the scrubbing.

I just used triple antibiotic ointment and big gauze patches. Let them breathe as much as possible under the antibiotic, and took the gauze off as soon as the rashes stopped being oozy.

psycholist

I should consider myself lucky...there is usually quite a bit of traffic where my spill happened, and I could have easily gotten into much worse trouble than a rash. Not to mention that I had just crossed a set of train tracks, where the rail bed is big chunky blocks of limestone mixed in with bits of broken bottles and metal debris. Yep, I got off lightly.

Will try to get in to town tonight and check out the pharmacy options.

Do the patches flex ok or are they a bit stiff? I don't want something coming off and flapping half way through a ride tomorrow. From what little I know about them, they aren't affected by sweat?

stonecrd

I find that something like Neosporin with lidocaine in it works best and leave things open to the air. You just have to make sure you are not greasing up everything you brush up against. I always find covering up abrasions with bandages slows down the healing.

mycoatl

These are the bomb. My wounds always weep like crazy, and these are the only thing I've found that really manage the moisture, help heal quickly, and help with pain. Clean the wound, but the patch on, then I usually cover it with gauze to protect the patch, leave it alone for 1-2 weeks, and when the wound has healed, the patch will dry up and peel off. Amazing.

VanceMac

Similarly, I found these to be incredible:



When I had multiple rashes, I used those on the deepest one, and it healed faster than several of the less severe ones. Tegaderm was a close second.

psycholist

VanceMac, that's EXACTLY what I wound up with after my trip to the store last night.
Other than the Advanced Care product, all they had was more of the liquid bandage stuff, the usual oversized adhesive pads, and some patches you put on scar tissue AFTER the wound has healed to reduce the scar itself.

Now my trouble is trying to get the liquid bandange off without removing any new tissue. Too bad I can't just put the pads on over the whole thing.
And get this...the label on the LB says that one may use NAIL POLISH REMOVER to get it off the skin. WHY NOT JUST USE KEROSENE?? aaagh.


thanks everybody for the good advice.

Roadrashadvice

I’m actually having the same problem, how did you end up getting the liquid bandage off? My road rash is still pretty raw and the thought of putting acetone on it is horrifying.. However, I would like to get it off so I can try Tegaderm

Flip Flop Rider

swim in the ocean, seriously

terrymorse 

After I lost all the skin on the tip of my finger, a nurse friend said that their hospital uses this wound dressing ointment on difficult wounds.

Each day, I cleaned the site with an alcohol pad and covered it with a nonstick pad and some of the ointment. After 8 days, the skin had regrown completely, and there is no scar.

Amazing.

Miele Man

Ah, you do know that this thread you resurrected was over 12 YEARS old?

I'd ask my pharmacist or a sports medicine doctor.

Cheers

jpescatore

Warning my wife away from some badly cracked pavement on a ride we did last weekend, I got my own front wheel stuck in a deep crack and went down in fairly slow motion and got a big patch of road rash across my left knee. (Punishment for mansplaining...)

Years ago I had a more serious deep road rash on the other knee, and happened to be scheduled to go to a dermatologist to get something else looked and he recommended Silver sulfadiazine for the deep wound to be serious about preventing infection but said the triple cream plus anti-stick pads over it would be fine - I'm doing that again for this episode since it is really just rash vs. wound.

The other dermatologist recommendation I'll stick to is keep it out of sun to prevent scarring - once the gauze is gone I'll be putting SPF stuff on it for rides.

Is there anything worse that those split seconds when you are going down and you think "Oh, no - not another two weeks of that!"

When I first met my wife I drove a motorcycle that had crash bars to try to save your legs if you had to put the bike down on - my wife says I need to put those on my road bike...