Gamjams miracle road rash cure.

Here is a copy of a post I did on the Bicycle Place listserve almost year ago, (July 6, 2008), when a fellow racer crashed at Nationals.

I found Drs. Choice as the best as it was similar to 2nd Skin "moist burn pad" however it was better at sealing everything up so you don't have to tape the sides so that the pad doesn't move. Drs. Choice's "Hydrocolloid Pad" had the cooling/soothing effect and it also has the ability to soak up some of the draining of the wound, of course most of the draining does leak out. Tegaderm seems to be just a very thin layer as a cover, which works well, however doesn't have the cooling/soothing effect which Drs. Choice's have. 2nd Skin's moist covering was probably the most cooling of the batch, however it never stayed in place when I slept. (I used tape on them, and of course that didn't work out too well as it just slipped off and the tape found itself on the wound itself).

My treatment was to rub the wound with my clean palm/fingers or a clean towel, under the shower. I used Betadine as a antiseptic as it is known to kill bacteria really well and doesn't sting when you apply it. I don't think cause a harsh reaction to the skin like hydrogen peroxide.
Once cleaned dab the wound dry and apply a thin layer of Neosporin + Pain Relief. This stuff is the best for the keeping bacteria out of the wound while healing. Apply the Drs Choice pad choose a size larger much larger than the area of the roadrash. If it is wound is larger, you can always overlap a certain amount of the pads as they are breatheable.

Once the pads are on, you might get some seepage from the wound, don't worry about that, just dab with a tissue or sterile gause. You can keep the pad on for a few days without changing it. (As long as you're not getting any puss or bad smelling leakage, which means you're getting an infection). After about 3 days, you'll probably want to change it as the pad will start not to stick as well as before. I actually changed mine on the 4th day and found that everything was already healing.
By the way, you can shower with these pads, just avoid standing directly in the spray of the water. Wash around the pad and quickly dab the pad dry while making sure the pad doesn't hold much water in it.

If you change your pad, go through the whole process of cleaning the wound in the shower, lightly rinsing and cleaning the wound (don't scrub), dab dry and reappl the Neosporin and pad again. Within about 5 days, my scrapes were already sealed over. I took the one on my elbow off after about 4 days and the one on my hip off within a week. It's still pretty tender, however, everything is nicely sealed up and healing without any scabbing.

If you start getting any bad smelling leakage out of the wound, clean immediately as you probably had some bacteria trapped under the pad or still embedded in the wound. You'll probably have to do some deeper scrubbing and I highly suggest using Betadine. And make sure you use Neosporin as well.

That's my advice. All of these "pads'' work well, and everyone has their favorites, however try them and don't go down the "gauze pad route and let it scab over"as the scabbing will cause more damage later on during the healing process.

By the way, Giant Food had the Drs.Choice pads on a 50% clearance a few weeks back and luckily I bought some. (Maybe I shouldn't have, as that may have jinxed me.)

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However recently because of my hernia surgery...the surgeon used a glue which sealed over the incisions really well and apparently this stuff lets the skin breathe and heal just like 2nd skin or NuSkin, however thicker as it holds the skin together. The problem I see with this treatment is that it may not provide pain relief or soak up the oozing.

I haven't crashed in a while...knock on wood, partially because I haven't been racing much and I'm not on the bike as much. The best prevention for road rash!