C-Forum

I keep scraping the same knuckles over and over. Scrapes get infected after a day or two of river running. When I get home I wash with peroxide, cover with triple antibiotic and bandaids changing daily but they take over a week, sometimes two, to heal.

Any recommended quicker cures for minor skin abrasions?

Thanks,
Big Al

My wife Kelly clams I'm accident prone and I tend to have constant cuts and scrapes that I mostly ignore. When I have a wound that is more problematic (or Kelly pins me down to bandage it ) I have tried all kinds of salves and ointments and the best thing that I have yet found bar none is called Silver Shield Gel and its made by Nature Sunshine.

http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/produ ... -4950.aspx

It's a water based gel, no alcohol, no petroleum and it's magic. I will clean the wound by soaking it and then put a glob of this stuff on under some kind of bandage. Cuts, burns and abrasions heal miraculously fast most of the time. You can put this stuff in your mouth or even your eyes without damaging them. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I do not sell Nature Sunshine and actually am not a fan of their business model but this is a product that is good enough to endorse.

I prefer to let scrapes dry out. I'd probably just rub the antibiotic cream in to fight infection and leave the scrape exposed.

Povidone iodine, disinfects and dries minor wounds very quickly (i find betadine spray is best, as its a fine powder rather than a liquid solution increasing the drying effect).

90% of the time I just leave well alone, if its just a minor abrasion, rather than a patch of misding skin or a deep wound, the chances of infection are very low.

Paddling gloves if you can stand to wear them.

Oh please ... buck up!!!!

After a run just continue to self medicate with few Golden Monkeys - pouring liberally... some on the scrap!



Oh and do what others say too!

after many years bicycle racing/crashing and dragging my butt,hips,knees,elbows and face on the pavement i learned never to use hydrogene peroxide. it burns the soft tissue so it dies and prolongs the healing. a soft toothbrush gets the dirt out nicely. i like comfry root sauve for healing.

Yea I have 6 small scars on my knuckles just from rolling in shallow water. Wash out with a providone iodine solution then leave it. Use a flushing syringe if there is dirt and stuff in it. As long as it isn't bleeding I would let it dry out. It will heal faster.

You can always glue them (not kidding) if they keep re-opening.

Dave

Cut up a fresh Aloe Vera leave, gently rub it over the wound and watch it healing...
Works perfectly well for abrasions and cools and soothens it at the same time

For skin scrapes that actually become infected, because of repeated immersion in dirty water despite the use of iodine, etc., I find, like arhdc, that the silver metal based antibiotics work real fast to clear up the infection and speed healing. The over-the-counter regular antibiotics and triple antibiotics are much slower. The micronized silver particles in a colloidal suspension are very effective against all common bacterial types, once the silver contacts the bacteria. Many bacteria have developed partial resistance to the over-the-counter antibiotics, such as erythromycin, leading to slow healing times. I use a silver based antibiotic called Terrasil, but I bet the one recommended by arhdc works just as well. I just put it on the infrected area, cover it with a bandaid/bandage, and change it out in a day (if the wound gets wet in contaminated water) or two, otherwise. The salve/cream base works reasonably well in keeping new bacteria out of the wound when paddling day after day.