# Treatment(s) for Severe Road Rash?



## RickC5 (Sep 23, 2004)

Last Wednesday I went down on the outside of my right calf, just as it was healing from another crash a week earlier. Ripped all the old scabs off and quite a bit of stuff underneath.

Finally went to the doc after a day and a 1/2. She said to let it air and don't put ANYTHING on it. Especially no Bacitracin or Triple Antibiotic ointments, as she had seen too many patients with bad reactions to the ointments. I can wrap it with a non-stick pad at night to reduce the discomfort, but that's it. 

Ok, so it's slowly healing, but truly hurts like the devil. I'm trying a little homeopathic treatment: a few drops of tea tree oil, but just to reduce the discomfort. It's even hard to walk on it. I figure I have at least another week before I should start riding again.

Oh yeah, I also bruised my shin bone and associated muscles.

Anyway, how have the rest of you handled some severe road rash?


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## grungePoodle (Jul 3, 2007)

Tegaderm (made by 3M) 

...and ibuprofen, ice for swelling (if you can stand it).

I had road rash that got infected, the ER put Tegaderm on it. Freaking awesome. It's thin as your skin, completely invisible, leave it on for several days, no ointments. Took me weeks and weeks to heal but Tegaderm was the bomb. Shower and swim with it. Also keeps germs, dirt and mosquitos it. 

I know it's painful, my lower leg was more than an inch larger than the other one because of the swelling. I couldn't even put my leg under the sheets. ER even gave me narcotics for the pain. It was ridiculously painful, drove me to tears.

A box will be about $10 but it will seriously be the best investment in your wound care.

P.S. Six weeks after that happened, I wrecked AGAIN and ripped open the entire thing. It was a mess. Ended up in the ER again, they SCRUBBED the wound with a brush this time because of all the gravel, almost gave me a coronary.


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## xcguy (Apr 18, 2004)

*Check out this link*

I'm dealing with a bit of road rash of my own but nothing like the pic in this link:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=261682&highlight=road+rash


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## grungePoodle (Jul 3, 2007)

That is *exactly* what mine looked like, same size and place. Incredibly painful.


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## nicoli (May 6, 2008)

grungePoodle said:


> ...they SCRUBBED the wound with a brush this time because of all the gravel, almost gave me a coronary.


Yah... I had that lovely treatment last time I ended up in the ER, it sucked pretty hard. I had three broken bones and an impressive concussion, but scrubbing my road rash was way worse than any of the other stuff. On the other hand, I was very impressed with how well it healed compared to my usual 'do nothing and wait for it to get better' approach.


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## grungePoodle (Jul 3, 2007)

nicoli said:


> ut scrubbing my road rash was way worse than any of the other stuff.


Totally. I also had a broken hand and a knuckle in 8 pieces on the same visit. Road rash hurt way more.


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## RickC5 (Sep 23, 2004)

*7/8 Update*

Spent most of yesterday morning at the doc's. Road rash is apparently healing nicely, and I (finally) got "permission" to use a pure (no fragrance) baby lotion on the scabby areas to keep them from drying out and feeling tight. I've already tried it and it makes a BIG difference in comfort. Otherwise, the doc still wants nothing done - just let it heal.

OTOH, now there's concern that I might have sprained my knee (again), or perhaps torn a tendon/ligament. More x-rays yesterday confirmed that there's no fracture, and I'm scheduled for a MRI on the knee on Thursday to see about the tendons/ligaments. In the mean time, I was given a knee immobilizer and crutches to use if I leave the house to go shopping, etc. Guess I'll stay home and rest for a few days, watching the TdF.

The orthopedic guy (a fellow mtb'er) who fitted me for the immobilizer pushed and pulled at my knee and said that he believed everything was still connected as it should be inside. Of course, the knee was sure sore when he finished. Sheesh!

BTW- my road rash looks very much like the guy's in the link posted by xcguy, but maybe only 75% as big (surface area) and deeper.


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## derrgti (Sep 4, 2007)

use the Tegaderm strips, they may feel up with puss the first couple of times just change them out with new stips.
after changing them a couple of times it will start to heal you will hardly have any scaring after it's healed completely.

I had a pretty big rash on one of my cheeks a few years ago after someone took me down in a road race, it was stinging pretty bad until I covered it with the tagaderm strips then after about 6 days it was completley healed.


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## The Squeaky Wheel (Dec 30, 2003)

see here:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/abrasions.htm


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## dinoadventures (May 2, 2008)

I tried the Tegaderm on my last rr (endo'd and flew like 15 feet into a rock garden so it was everywhere and it was BAD) but i guess there was too much drainage because i went through over 2 boxes before i could get away with it. for mild rr, tho, the Tegaderm rocks.


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## grungePoodle (Jul 3, 2007)

I had gobs of drainage too. You can pull up an end of the strip and let it drain out. Or...you can take a sterilized need and poke a teeny hole in the strip and let the gunk come out. It's pretty gross. Mine got so puffed up with pus after a 2 hour ride that it had a blow-out and ran down my leg. Gross.


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## Scudweiser (Jul 13, 2008)

clean it real good, then use second skin burn dressings, i used em a lot when i wiped out on a hill and got rediculous road rash on my torso


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## RickC5 (Sep 23, 2004)

*7/17 Update*

Two weeks since the crash, and the road rash is just about all healed. Only two small scabs left, both smaller than a dime. Nice ugly pink and purple scar tissue or new skin, whatever. Maybe my doctor's "let it air" philosophy isn't so bad after all.

The verdict on the knee is a torn meniscus, with varying suggestions as to what should be done to it. A consultation with the surgeon is next, with some discussion on doing arthroscopic surgery to remove loose chunks.

I'm walking OK, but won't be able to ride until next week, per the docs and my wife. the knee still isn't through healing.

What a mess!


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## JapanBiking (Nov 5, 2011)

*The best article ever on road rash treatment*

I've read many articles on this topic and this one is the most complete I've seen. I have it printed out in my house.

Dealing with road rash

By Dawn M. Richardson, MD FACEP

This report filed May 14, 2003

velonews.competitor.com/2003/05/coaches-panel/ask-the-doctor-with-dawn-richardson_3909


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## fitnessallday (Dec 12, 2011)

^ great article!


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## geoffmayne (Oct 2, 2008)

I totally concur with Tegaderm. I joke with my wife that we probably have the only kids in elementary school who have tegaderm as part of their vocabulary. Oh, it's a WHOLE lot cheaper on eBay. I have some at work, in my car, in my camelbak, and I hand it out to whomever needs it.


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