Road Rash - best treatment?

pjh

After falling off yesterday I've got a lovely dose or road-rash on my left knee.

After I'd cleaned it up I tried one of these 'spay-on' plasters !!! (Big mistake .... to say it was painful is an underestimate .... luckily I was in the bathroom so no-one could here the 30 second string of expletives

Seriously ... is there a recommended treatment to ease this (at the moment I'm wearing shorts as I can't bear trousers sticking to my knee :oops: )

I'd be grateful for any advice.

andy_wrx

Baggy clothes. Ibuprofen gel. Don't pick the scabs.

Don't bleed all over the sheets at your mother in law's, like I did, or you'll persuade her cycling is dangerous and never hear the end of it !

Watch Hollentour/Hell on Wheels DVD and see Eric Zabel take a nailbrush into the shower to remove the roadgrit and dirt from his legs after a crash, to prevent infection, then go on and ride another stage the day after...

skims

i used a cream called bepantan[not sure if its spelt right]its a cream for nappy rash but works great ull need to use either old clothes or cover it with a bandage cause it very oily and hard to get out of clothes if iget road rash i usually cover it withcling film and clean it two to three times a day and after four or five days it usually ok and there is not much scabing

AndyTheRocketeer

Dunno what's in that spray on plaster/skin, but after having a bit of embroidery to chin following an off, the spray skin instantly reversed the effect of the local anaesthetic!

rjeffroy

Get some hydrocolloid dressings, they are brilliant. They keep the wound moist so reduce scarring significantly. I used them after my last off, cleared it up in about a week and there is now hardly a mark to be seen whereas the aftermath of previous crashes is clearly visible.

You should be able to pick them up from Boots or other chemists.

Doobz

when I used to ride bmx a few years ago I came off on some tarmac and had serious roasties on my hip. A mate of mines brother who was into road cycling scrubbed it with a scrubbing brush and then used hydrogen peroxide on it to get right into the wound.. After that he aplied some stuff called mecurichrome and a few days later some iodine to dry it out otherwise it would seep.. once it had scabbed I used Preparation H

redvee

Vinegar or TCP :twisted: :twisted:

Cajun

Best I've seen is Johnson & Johnson's Advanced Healing Pads...

Clean the road rash (don't apply any salve, etc.) Apply the pad. Leave it on at least 3-4 days before changing...

It stays on during/after showering or riding...
and definitely minimizes any scaring

http://www.drugstore.com/qxp68768_33318 ... e_pads.htm

oldwelshman

Treat it same as a tattoo, I use pyle cream to stop burning for a day or two then leave it after that.

justyn_c_uk

I've used Sudacrem (for nappy rash), and it's working nicely on my face.....

scherrit

'Nuther vote for hydrocolloid.... they also take the pain away pretty much. You do need to get the wound clean, hence the scrubbing approach, but I usually just get into a bath and use standar bar soap on a soft sponge.... I'm no Rambo and the reason for the soap is that it helps clean the wound and also hurts a lot less than plain water... something to do with osmotic potential.... then once all the cr@p (road grit and the like ) is out of the wound, shave the surrounding area where the plaster of whatever kind is going to tear the hair out painfully, any way!!!

You can normally get bigger sheets of the stuff from the prescriptions counter at boots, superdrug etc which may be cheaper then the little boxes of the stuff out on the shelves. It is expensive stuff, tho'
Good luck,
S.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Yes the clear sheets like Tegaderm are brilliant. Grazes "wet heal" under the dressing and after 7-9 days are replaced with fresh baby new skin, no scabs ever and after a bit of sun exposure, no permanent marks.

I've lost plenty of skin in my day (once about three feet of skin all down my left side after laying the bike over in a high speed cornering crash) and the tegaderm and equivalents were used with great success. I always keep supplies at home in case I need it.

Apply early after cleaning the wound well, one application of an antiseptic, apply the dressing and leave it on for the week. It really helps if the skin is shaven and you need clean dry skin all around the wound for the dressing to stick to. It won't stick to the wound as it will "weep" fluid. If it weeps lots of fluid - that's normal. You may have to replace the dressing once as the fluid built up can be amazing but they work so well it's like magic.

They are waterproof so you can shower with them on and since the water doesn't touch it - it's not painful at all.

nikkas

Local Boots (UK) have only small pads but found Savlon now do hydro-colloid gel + Melonin dry non-adhesive dressing you can tape over. Aim is to keep wound moist to avoid scabbing and heal quicker.
Alternatively, Plan B: Don't fall off next time.

PaulBarman

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

CarleyB

witch hazel. Its naural and its MAGIC. I promise it will heal you quicker than anything else.

ellie.velo

nikkas wrote:

Local Boots (UK) have only small pads but found Savlon now do hydro-colloid gel + Melonin dry non-adhesive dressing you can tape over. Aim is to keep wound moist to avoid scabbing and heal quicker.
Alternatively, Plan B: Don't fall off next time.

Always worth asking at the pharmacy, they will probably have HUGE dressings for supplying on prescriptions, if they have a box open they are usually more than happy to sell single dressings. I worked in Boots for 8yrs before moving in November and used to have great supplies of mepores that were as long as my thigh!

Would recommend sudocrem too!

nikkas

Ah thanks Ellie I would have thought so too but my local & large Boots said "try Sainsburys they have a larger pharmacy". How times change! Neither had much of a clue.
At least the pads/savlon make it (me) less irritable!
Sudocrem days are behind me but worth remembering.

dcab

skims wrote:

i used a cream called bepantan[not sure if its spelt right]its a cream for nappy rash but works great ull need to use either old clothes or cover it with a bandage cause it very oily and hard to get out of clothes if iget road rash i usually cover it withcling film and clean it two to three times a day and after four or five days it usually ok and there is not much scabing

bepanthen- its top gear, they use it for healing tattoos!
i have also used it for burns, clean your rash put plenty of cream on and cover with cling film. do this twice a day using a mild soap and warm water solution, pat it dry making sure you dont knock the scab off. after three or four days you can do away with the cling film,just bathe pat dry and a little bepanthen and roberts yer mothers brother!