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Things that might help reduce scaring of a wound during the healing process
Zephos
Climbin in yo ski lifts, snatchin your people up.MichiganRegistered User regular
Climbin in yo ski lifts, snatchin your people up.MichiganRegistered User regular
So over the weekend I got a pretty nasty scrap/cut. its roughly the size of a nickel and on my forearm, I'm just curious what type of things I could do to help it A. Heal faster/cleanly B. Reduce the the scaring that its sure to leave.
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Is the wound still leaking fluid? Or has it scabbed over? How hard is the scab?
If it's still leaking, then disinfecting it with soap and water (and/or rubbing alcohol) and covering it with one of those band-aid healing blisters (assuming they still make them... they're awfully pricey) will do well for healing it quickly and minimizing scarring. Just remember to not remove or lift the band-aid for several days.
If the scab is soft, disinfect as above, and either use the healing blister, or use a normal band-aid and antibiotic ointment.
If it's scabbed over with a hard scab, leave it alone. You can leave it uncovered, or cover it with a normal band-aid to protect the scab from being torn off.
The only thing that salt water is going to do is disinfect the wound, and I doubt that it would work better than the rubbing alcohol.
Its somewhat leaking now, i can see the start of it scabbing over due to its position on my arm sometimes movement will "crack" it with fluid welling up from underneath.
So i'm thinking it is.
Edit: whops, completely forgot one of my original intents on making this thread, is a rosy red ring around it normal? I was worried about infection as i was swimming in a lake after it happened
... if you have really hairy arms it might be a good idea to shave around the wound before applying the blister (for better adhesion).
About the red ring: does it hurt or feel hot or tender when you touch the red part?
If it's not deep I wouldn't be too worried about scarring.
Is it weeping at all? The ring around isn't really anything to worry about, unless there are other things with it. If it's weeping, go to a doctor. Weeping can be a sign of infection. If the redness spreads, go to a doctor. If the area swells, or gets really hot, go to a doctor.
I just had a huge scrape on my leg, like, the size of my entire hand on my calf. It was really red around the entire area. My leg also started to swell up, so I went to the docs, but he said it was cool. I was pretty sure it was, but it's nice to know.
If the area is dry, I say leave it open. The air is good for it, and if you are saying its cracking, covering it is only going to make the bandage stick to the area once it breaks open, and then tear it some more when you remove the bandage. You honestly don't need to be washing it anymore than you would usually wash a part of your body.
i guess the best way i can explain it that when it was fresh the blood seeped up almost in a pattern like this
(not that i really think that helps, ha.)
as for the weeping, it was so fresh that its kind of hard to tell
if the red part is significantly warmer than the surrounding skin, or the fluid from any part is white or greenish, then it's probably infected.
If you want to make sure that nothing is infected, regardless of the condition of the wound, you could do the following (this is my procedure for cleaning out cat scratches. With a few modifications to step 3, it's useful for small puncture wounds; steps 3 thru 7 also work well for infected pimples, but should not be used on burns.):
gather your supplies: rubbing alcohol, bandaids, antibiotic ointment, rough washcloth, soap.
1. turn on the warm water in your sink.
2. place the wound under the running water and warm the water up until it is as hot as you can stand without removing the wound from the stream of water.
3. use the washcloth (wet and with soap on) to carefully scrub any debris out of the wound. (in your case, this would mean all the old scab material).
Keep running the hot water over the wound for about 5 minutes.
4. turn off the water.
5. pour rubbing alcohol over the wound. (this will hurt)
6. carefully dry the skin around the wound, making sure to not touch the injury itself.
7. if using regular band-aids, apply antibiotic ointment then band-aids
if using blisters, skip the ointment, and apply the blister.
This is what works for me... umm... use it with caution?
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