Training & Nutrition - I let my road rash scab up, now what?

I have some pretty good road rash, about a week old. Now I have some big, hard scabs. Yes, I realize now this is no longer the way to treat such injuries.

So, what should I do? Try to moisten them up and perhaps they will break apart or come off? And then pursue a keep it covered and moist with frequent cleaning/ointment approach. Or is it too late? I'm not that concerned about scarring (have plenty of others), but would like to see if I can speed up the healing process. Also the scabs are causing tightness and maybe some swelling around the joints that is hindering getting back on the bike.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

I had road rash last year on my legs and arms. I just let mine fall off. They got hard. When they did fall off I put lotion on the new skin. I have a few nasty scars but other then that it healed pretty nicely.

If it were me I would goop the scabs up with A&D ointment and cover it with gauze during the day.

Millions of years of evolution has equipped the body to deal with injuries.

Pick them back off lol

na, juice them up and cover them, they will leave in no time

Pick 'em off and make pizza!

Al

Modern advances and techniques in medical technology gives you much better results for injuries. No longer do we have to deal with broken bones that heal at an angle or bad eyesight or crooked teeth or debilitating diseases like polio or smallpox. No reason we have to put up with long recovery times and scars from road-rash; which are the results if you use the "natural" bandage that your body developed.

So it's not too late to slather triple-antibiotic ointment on and cover up the road-rash. Will reduce healing time to 1/2 of leaving it on its own. The ointment and bandage will prevent the usual minor surface infections that occur with scabs due to cracking and letting infectious stuff in. These infections are what causes scar-tissue to form. The scab will come off on its own in a couple of days after the new skin grows in underneath. Keep the wound covered for another week until the vulnerable new pink skin has started to have some normal coloring (melanin). Use a high-IU vitamin-E cream during this last stage to help it stay moist until the coloring has fully covered the new skin. Then you can stop all treatment and voila! no scars! :)

Thanks for all the replies. I'm suprised how the antibiotic ointment is softening up the scab. I guess I've been doing it the old fashioned way for a while, I guess I could have avoided a lot of scars.

Just read Arnie Baker's Road Rash article (http://arniebakercycling.com/handouts/hm_fa_road_rash.htm). Good stuff, essentially what you said Danno.

Heh, heh.. what annoys me most is that the scars I do have come from minor stuff that I didn't care about at the time; probably because they didn't hurt. Things like razor nicks or ingrown hairs that I thought was no big deal. So I just left them and they got slightly infected and ended up with scars. I even have a gash on my hand from slipping with the ratchet-wrench while working on my car. Scraped it across a plastic corner of the windshield-washer fluid bottle. Didn't even draw blood, yet ended up as a long 1" scar on my palm because I didn't treat it. However, the acres of road-rash on my thighs, hips, elbows and shoulders from crashes with meticulous care don't even have any traces showing. :) Although there is a bone-fragment in my elbow that should be removed... one of these days...

For me, one of the joys of road rash is picking the scabs as they form.

I probably should have out grown that by age 12 but alas.....

50-50 neosporin and A & D creamy.

it's not too late to slather triple-antibiotic ointment on

It will be soon. (http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/antiresist_facts.html)

I have some pretty good road rash, about a week old. Now I have some big, hard scabs. Yes, I realize now this is no longer the way to treat such injuries.

So, what should I do? Try to moisten them up and perhaps they will break apart or come off? And then pursue a keep it covered and moist with frequent cleaning/ointment approach. Or is it too late? I'm not that concerned about scarring (have plenty of others), but would like to see if I can speed up the healing process. Also the scabs are causing tightness and maybe some swelling around the joints that is hindering getting back on the bike.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

There is a product, AquaPhor, made by the makers of Eucerin, that has saved the day for me many times. Apply it to the scab, then cover it. The scab will stay in place, allowing healing to continue, but it will soften a bit, allowing you to move without continually breaking it open (which slows healing and causes more scarring). I used it during the early years of my martial arts training, allowing me to keep making fists in spite of the occaisional scabbed knuckles. I also used it a couple of years ago on some road rash too (I got doored). The stuff works.

Have a shower, and when finished, just flick off the softened scabby material. Othewise, I just like picking dry scabs, though I sometimes get friendly fire casualities from accidently ripping adjacent skin.

pick em off!

I let my road rash scab up, now what?
The proper thing to do next is to start another thread telling everyone how you are going to [start shaving|keep shaving] in the Road Cycling forum.

Scars are sexy. Hooboy! If I could find me a woman with some well-earned road rash...