Blisters on new skin after road rash?

JesseD

Anyone else developed blisters when recovering from road rash?

Had quite a bad off 6 weeks ago and took a lot of skin off my right butt cheek and thigh with some quite deep gauges from gravel through the wound, also suffered quite a big hematoma from the impact. I am basically now healed from the road rash and hematoma however I have developed blistering on the new skin and wondered if anyone else has suffered from it?

After the off I was given a course of antibiotics to stave off infection given the size of the wound which I completed as directed.

The area doesn't hurt any more but I am wondering if this is part of the normal healing process?

Matthewfalle

i'd suggest you go and see your doctor as opposed to asking a load of people on a bicycle forum.

sungod

^^^this, today if you haven't already done so

JesseD

I do have a doctors appointment booked in for Friday as that's the soonest appointment I could get, but thought I would ask the question anyway in case anyone else had had this and was curious as to what causes it?

To be fair the off was pretty bad with a patch of around 6 inches by 8 inches of lost skin on my right butt cheek and thigh, the hematoma was pretty large as well. Luckily the skin is now grown back and the hematoma has all but gone, there is no pain now either and the redness is going down quickly, but its just the blisters popping up that is infuriating.

mamba80

I ve had a fair bit of gravel rash M/Cs and cycles, never had anything like this once scar tissue formed, you might still have dirt in the wound? are they dry or weeping?
Be good once you ve seen the Doc, to report back?

Matthewfalle

JesseD wrote:

I do have a doctors appointment booked in for Friday as that's the soonest appointment I could get, but thought I would ask the question anyway in case anyone else had had this and was curious as to what causes it?

To be fair the off was pretty bad with a patch of around 6 inches by 8 inches of lost skin on my right butt cheek and thigh, the hematoma was pretty large as well. Luckily the skin is now grown back and the hematoma has all but gone, there is no pain now either and the redness is going down quickly, but its just the blisters popping up that is infuriating.

Go and see your doctor.

JesseD

Matthewfalle wrote:

Go and see your doctor.

My previous post

JesseD wrote:

I do have a doctors appointment booked in for Friday as that's the soonest appointment I could get

Thanks

fenix

Do come back and let us know what it was. I'm sure it's not normal though.

JesseD

So went to the doctors and he took a look and seems to think there is nothing wrong and I am healing fine, the wound (if you can call it that now) is not infected although the hematoma is still there albeit smaller. He said it was hard to say what the blisters were from although it possibly could be from the skin being too dry, but he did say they were also healing and he wasn't concerned at all.

Matthewfalle

Did you see your GP or a dermatologist?

Matthewfalle

JesseD wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Go and see your doctor.

My previous post

JesseD wrote:

I do have a doctors appointment booked in for Friday as that's the soonest appointment I could get

Thanks

Pleasure - any time.

ck101

I had this, it was infected. Pretty serious actually, took about two rounds of high strength antibiotics to eventually sort it. Were talking about a stay in hospital for intravenous antibiotics. Don’t mean to scare you.

JesseD

Ck101 wrote:

I had this, it was infected. Pretty serious actually, took about two rounds of high strength antibiotics to eventually sort it. Were talking about a stay in hospital for intravenous antibiotics. Don’t mean to scare you.

OK thanks, were there any other signs like the area being hotter than the rest of you, any oozing of pus or stuff or just blisters? Were there any other signs that it was infected?

The doctor took a good look and asked a lot of questions about how it has been or has felt, and I was honest that it wasnt painful or hot at all, just had a couple of blisters that have popped up, no new ones for a while now and it seems to be healing again ok.

I did take 2 courses of antibiotics when it happened and sought regular medical advice/attention for about 4 weeks after the accident (getting dressings changed etc).

ck101

In my case I hit the deck skinning my elbow, I remember picking out the gravel from my forearm just below the elbow where the skin is thin.

It scabbed and healed normally, then blistered which I thought was unusual. After this there was some oozing and pus, yes this area was hotter which I believed to be a sign of infection. Turned out to be Osteomyelitis or infection in the bone, a common enough injury for cyclists as I understood from my doctor.

If it is indeed this, treat with upmost seriousness.

JesseD

Ck101 - thanks for the answers, initially the area was hot but 2 courses of antibiotics must have put paid to any infection taking hold, think I was lucky in that respect.

Funnily enough I had some cream from the hospital that i had been using to help with the scabs forming and with healing the skin more quickly but i ran out just before I went to the doctors and ever since I have had no more blisters so maybe it was an allergic reaction?

Hematoma has now almost gone, I do have some redness in the area and the remnants of some blisters which have scabbed over and are also healing.

One recommendation I would have for anyone who has a hematoma is to use arnica cream locally, when i started using it the hematoma decreased in size rapidly, so much so that I was pretty shocked.

Upshot is that after 7 weeks of enforced rest I am now riding again (albeit slowly)

sloppyschleckonds

Sounds nasty and make sure you keep the area bandaged or covered when riding again as road rash on old road rash is somewhere you don't want to visit, but thread is useless without pics

JesseD

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Sounds nasty and make sure you keep the area bandaged or covered when riding again as road rash on old road rash is somewhere you don't want to visit, but thread is useless without pics

It was quite nasty and not something i want to go through again in a hurry, was by far the worst road rash i have every had and everyone who has seen it has has said it was one of the worst they have ever seen, it seems I do not bounce as well as i did when i was younger.

As for pics, i didn't post the just after the crash pic as its not pretty and i didn't want to offend anyone with a not so strong constitution.