Road rash...?!
Question:
Road rash...?
I recently fell off my bike and got a serious case of road rash on both my knees, shoulder and face. What are some ways to keep it from scarring..Should I put Band-Aides on it?
Answers:
No band aids. The adhesive will irritate the rash.
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There are two methods of wound healing that most doctors embrace: The "wet method" and "dry method". Dry method means keep the rash clean, perhaps cover with non-stick gauze to keep bacteria out (no heavy air-excluding bandage) and let it heal by itself. If it doesn't get infected, it will scab. The scabs will fall off and you will either have a scar or not.
The "Wet Method" is to keep the rash clean, and use an antibiotic to prevent infection. Clean and reapply twice daily.
Cover with non-stick gauze. If healing is coming along nicely and danger of infection is past, keep the area moist with a cream to prevent scarring.
However, since the road rash is on your face also, you want to make sure you have no scarring there, so If I were you, I would spend the money and see a doctor -or even a dermatologist (specializes in skin) to get specific instructions.
A note about neosporin: A dermatogist once told me (when neosporin didn't help my skin condition but made it worse) that I was allergic to neosporin and 80% of the population becomes allergic to it after they have used it once or twice.
He switch me to straight bacitracin, which cleared it up.
So if you're going to try just neosporin or go the "triple antibiotic route" (which contains neosporin), be watchful whether you are (or become) sensitive to it.