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Road Rash Treatment

Yamabushi

Maximum Pace
Jun 1, 2010
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I realize the topic has been discussed before, but Tobias's spill on the Yanagisawa descent this past Saturday, my passion for cycling and descending, and the fact that I have two boys (3yr & 1yr) that are likely to injure themselves at some point has brought the issue to the forefront of my attention again. So in that vain let's talk.

I think everyone in the know agrees that the old methodology of allowing the road rash to dry out and scab over is definitely not the fastest or best way to recovery. Colloidal dressings definitely seem to be a significantly better way to go.

Has anyone here used the Tegaderm products? I'm considering getting the 15cm x 10m roll as seen HERE and/or HERE. Also is the only difference between those two products I linked to the fact the first one is Japan specific?
 
a coating of vaseline and glad wrap seems to be very good. My wife did it and it healed really fast and clean.
 
Not too sure about the differences in those two products technically speaking, but the cheap one is only 5cm wide, compared to 15cm wide with the other one.
 
Not too sure about the differences in those two products technically speaking, but the cheap one is only 5cm wide, compared to 15cm wide with the other one.

Oops, I linked to the wrong one on the 2nd link. Fixed it above, HERE is what it should have been. They are both the same size.


a coating of vaseline and glad wrap seems to be very good. My wife did it and it healed really fast and clean.

Good to hear some first hand experience. This was on you?
 
Looks interesting, Tim. I'm thinking about getting the roll, because then you can cut to fit as needed. And, 10 meters worth should hopefully last a long, long time.
 
Treatment with Saran wrap after 1 week, new pink skin has started to grow back, top of the wound where the saran slipped has started to scab over and constantly cracking due to the knee bend.



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The area was washed down once a day with antiseptic wash and then a new layer of cream and wrap was placed and secured.

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I will find out the name of the cream used to cover the injury
 
Very important to clean the wound before wrapping. My last road rash hospital visit involved hanging my elbow over a sink while the doctor scrubbed it with a brush. This may hurt he said....
Luckily, there was some nerve damage so I literally didn't feel a thing!
 
Is there showering involved in this process or are you keeping it out of the water except when cleaning down
 
You need to clean the wound as soon as you do it - This I gave a good scrub in the shower till it started to bleed again then after that just cleaned with antiseptic wash.

The saran wrap was taped using water proof medical tape so I could shower normally when it was on.
 
I've been reading quite a bit, and the most recent information recommends that during the cleaning process avoid scrubbing if at all possible. Scrubbing will almost certainly cause additional tissue damage. The best thing to do is to try to flush out any dirt and debris with flowing water either via something like a shower head or some sort of squeeze bottle if more pressure in a more specific spot is needed. That being said, in some cases irrigation alone will be insufficient and scrubbing with soap and water is necessary and unavoidable.
 
The problem is that roads are covered in all manner of nasty things so I would rather use hot water, antiseptic soap and a soft brush to clean it out. But if you have a pressure shower using that is one of the best way to get grit, dirt and other nasty debris out.
 
As conceded to earlier, for sure sometimes scrubbing is absolutely unavoidable. I would only add that you want to scrub no longer or no more vigorously than is necessary to get the job done. The point being to get the wound(s) clean, but to try to avoid any unnecessary additional tissue damage.
 
Potato Brush FTW! (Just kidding) Get the crap out of the wound, cover it and repeat as required! I don't know about anyone else - but as soon as I can get the region clean and wrapped, it feels better in spite or regardless of the procedure. I wouldn't say scrubbing as much as sloughing. Unless the road chunks are seriously ground into the hamburger fleshy bits, you should be able wash them out pretty easily. If they are ground in - you'll need the Novocaine and tweezers anyway. Or potato brush! Haha! Bear in mind, scrubbing will PUSH shit into the flesh about as effectively as it takes it out. This is why sloughing with water irrigation is better.
 
If you have to do it yourself, I can't imagine anybody scrub too much. In my case HTFU certainly applies.
Man, I hate road rash and cleaning it.
One advice is be prepared, because if necessary you want to make it as smooth as possible. I have a stack of tegaderm and a bunch of other wound dressings. You don't want to start buying it when you need it. So, thanks Pete for starting this. Thanks everybody for the newest intel. Probably will stay with tegaderm as it worked really well for me, except if the area is too large. Knocking on wood...
 
My last big road rash crash was in Oct 2009. My right elbow and wrist didn't heal greatly but I didn't do anything special but wash and dry it each day. The wrist was down to a vein and the elbow almost to the bone. No infections and didn't do the wrap technique. I may have tried the wrap had the rash not been as deep as it was. Arse, knees and back of shoulder blades all healed well. Right arm took the 1st hit, break and burn skid while the rest of the body took the rolling skid.
Funny how this kind of impact and injury doesn't seem to faze us much. :)
 
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