How long should it take for road rash to stop oozing/secreting?
No, I haven’t been riding Peabody outside, I fell on my run last night (after falling on ice on my trail run Saturday - my hip swelling had finally gone down, though my brusing from that is still all purple/green around my left hip, right knee, and right arm/elbow). I’ve never fallen on the sidewalk before. What a week.
I managed to leave more of myself than I would’ve liked on the sidewalk.
My left knee is now swollen and missing a decent amount of skin, I fell hard on my right kneecap so I have fresh bruising to go with the old), and I am missing a big patch of skin (a few layers) on the heel of my right hand as well as missing a decent amount on my right elbow (there are also some deeper cuts there).
I bled for a few hours last night from the elbow (I dripped on myself, it was gross), and secreted all night from the hand/elbow. I thought the bleeding had stopped but I must’ve done something in the night b/c I bled through my bandages.
I’ve got the bleeding stopped again, but I’m still secreting fluid. How long will it take to stop this?
I had left bandaids off in the hopes that my hand/elbow would kind of dry out, but it didn’t work and my coworker was so grossed out she refused to look at anything but my face (she said she nearly passed out, which I’m assuming is an exaggeration, it’s really not that bad). I got some new bandages from the drug store (and grossed the guy out there too, heh). The regular painkillers I was taking weren’t enough so the pharmacist gave me some acetaminophen with codeine - it’s taken the edge off but I’m still in pain. I can type again though, on the bright side.
Anyways, I’m just not sure if I should be worried that I’m still secreting. I’ve never had road rash before - is this normal to still be happening? Should I be trying to dry out the wounds?
When I’ve managed to lose large(ish) areas of skin I’ve found that moist burn pads, like these, are really useful. They allow the wound to breath which promotes healing, they keep the wound moist which means you aren’t breaking the scab everytime you flex your elbow or knee, and they cover the wound so you’re not oozing all over the place and grossing out your coworkers. They’re a bit akward to put on and bandaging joints is a bit complicated (use lots of long, thin strips of tape) so you’ll probably need assistance.
I first used them when I managed to remove a palm sized patch of skin off the top of my foot (due to a poor taping job on an injury) and they were a godsend.
Leslie, I think I’ve done a lot of what that article says. I called my bf last night and got him to tell me what to do.
I wasn’t sure about the secreting though and I couldn’t get a hold of him! I spoke to him since my post and he says it’ll probably keep doing it for today. He said as long as it wasn’t thick or yellow - it’s clear I think with a bit of blood, so I should be fine in that regard. Phew!
Alibabwa - thanks - I will stop by the drug store on the way home and take a look. Those look really good. I’ve been worried about letting them breath, those look perfect for healing and breathing!
We have slate sidewalks in the village where I live and they are very uneven. Last year, I caught my toe and fell and suffered the same cuts, bruises, and loss of skin that you did. It took quite a while to heal, it weeped a lot at first and I had to change the bandage often. I would put my leg up as often as I could without a bandage and let it dry out. I would keep some gauze/pad nearby because you will have to wipe off drainage. This seemed to help. It needs to be able to breathe at times or you can grow bacteria. I also put triple antibiotic cream on the bandages. Hope this helps! I tripped by a street crossing in front of a full school bus, so my ego hasn’t healed yet !
I fell on a section of sidewalk I’ve run over hundreds of times! It rises up a bit there, but still…there were 2 people on the other sidewalk and a couple of cars going by, so I was a wee bit embarrassed too! I was thinking I’ll have to change up my routes but the street is the main thoroughfare of my neighbourhood.
I got some moist burn pads on the way home, and I took of my bandages now I’m here. The weeping is much improved and I’m going to let them air out for awhile.
My knee - the unskinned one - is actually the most painful thing. I landed right on the kneecap and it’s a bit bruised and puffy - it looks pretty good, but it’s very painful, especially to the touch. One of my German Shepherds bumped into it - that set it off so when the other one wagged his tail and hit my knee I was like ‘AUGH!’. It’ll heel though
Get some Duoderm - has some sort of topical antibiotic or some healing thing - it’s a soft layer a couple milimeters thick that you put over an open wound. GREAT stuff.
i had road rash with the secretion you are talking about for days.
I used tegaderm, which I got from work (hospital). It allows it to breath and contains the secretions. They also come in big sheets to cover most of the wound.
Ask a pharmicist for tegaderm. it will help the healing.
Ditto on either the Tegaderm or Aquacell. My knee that I fell on was black for weeks. When I got home is when I noticed I had gashed open my hand and hip too.
I ended up just using polysporin etc. But at this point it’s soooo much better. Though, I opened up my hand pushing a revolving door at lunch…I thought it was healed enough, but I guess not.
Right now my biggest problem is my hip that I fell on last Saturday (trail was very, very icy). It broke down mid-way through my run Sunday. Time will heal it, I’m just not very patient
