Have my first experience with road rash on Saturday and I’m hoping to get back to the pool tomorrow, so I did a search on here and found out about Tegaderm. A question though – is the Tegaderm going to stick to the wound and mess it up when I try to remove it? How best to manage removal of the Tegaderm, and how many days can I leave it on?
It’s fairly minor road rash, I think. Most just pink, like a rug burn, with a few deeper scrapes in it. Not really any pits or chunks taken out. Hurts like a bitch though!
whenever I use tegaderm, and there is an open wound I will use some anti biotic gel just to keep a barrio. But I have also used tegaderm without that without issues. It is a great product for sealing up road rash.
Tegaderm will not stick to the wound. It will only stick to the dry skin around the wound. It’s easy to take off. Try to make sure it doesn’t have any wrinkles in it when you put it on or some fluid can leak out through the wrinkled area.
BTW it’s awesome stuff – your road rash will heal really fast with it on and if you put it on well you can keep it on for a week and even shower with it.
Tegaderm (or in some countries, “Duoderm”) is fantastic stuff.
As others have said, ensure the wound is completely clean and void of any particulate from the road. yes that means scrubbing a bit even if it hurts.
It only works well, however, if your wound is not actively bleeding. Otherwise it just becomes goopy and gross.
Depending on the severity of the road rash, start with a thicker version (2-3mm pad) and then after a week or so, peel it off in the shower and go with the thinner 1mm pad. It’s almost like a second skin. Leave it on for another week, remember to use sun screen after it heals, otherwise you’ll get a nice dark mark quickly…
Have my first experience with road rash on Saturday and I’m hoping to get back to the pool tomorrow, so I did a search on here and found out about Tegaderm. A question though – is the Tegaderm going to stick to the wound and mess it up when I try to remove it? How best to manage removal of the Tegaderm, and how many days can I leave it on? Here’s some good info from Mike Murray: http://www.obra.org/wound_care.html
Thanks everyone for the advice. I ordered some from Amazon, since it was about twice the price at my local Walgreens. Bought a cheap waterproof bandage for swimming tomorrow and the tegaderm should get here for my race next weekend, if I even need it by then.
Use non-stick gauze pads with polysporin until the wound stops weeping. Then Tegraderm is the way to go.
That’s what I’ve been doing at night and for my run on Sunday and today, because I didn’t want to get dirt in it – there’s lots of conflicting advice out there about whether to keep covered or uncovered in general. If I’m just sitting around at home what should I do?
It’s not weeping anymore; I really think it’s pretty minor on the road rash scale of things.