Scraped shin, now swelling ankle...?!
Question:
Scraped shin, now swelling ankle...?
I scraped my shin pretty bad about a week ago when I was sliding in softball. Since then, I've been putting neosporin on the wound and bandaging it up. For about the 3rd & 4th day, it was unbandaged and a scab formed, but after that, I rebandaged it to prevent scarring. Anyways, now I've started to notice my ankle on the same leg is swelling a bit. No discoloration or pain associated with it, just some puffiness. Also, there is still pain at the area of the wound. Is this normal for a large scrape?
Answers:
The swelling below the injury is gravity pulling your healing fluids down. You should gently massage that area or you will not be able to get rid of the swelling later. You should also keep this part elevated on occasion to allow the fluid to drain back "up" your leg to where it is needed. Pain is normal and is a good sign. It means that you didn't scrape too much skin away and it should recover.
That being said, you won't be able to control if you get a scar.
A scar is made up of collagen fibers (the same stuff rich women get injected into their lips) These fibers are mostly white, will not tan because they do not have melanin, and they do not stretch like skin, so you get the "star" pattern. If the scrape is large enough, your body will put collagen there to close the wound faster. If the scrape isn't so large, then you should not have a scar.