Road Cycling - Saddle Sore Treatment

I just recently got saddle sores after cycling for about five years. I've seen so many treatments, I'm not sure what's the real deal. I'm generally opposed to home remedies not recognized by the medical community. If it works a real doctor would recommend it, I'm not that leary of the establishment. At any rate, what has actually worked for you.

Note: THIS LIST IS IN NO WAY COMPREHENSIVE with only 10 entries allowed. I know some of you will clamor about your favorite option left off, just mention what it is.

hey cooleric,
here's what's worked for me:
for healing current sores: bag balm; stay off your saddle till they heal.
for prevention: assos chamois creme or butt'r chamois creme; change out of your riding shorts immediately after riding; of course always ride with clean shorts.
good luck!
rj

Once you wear off the skin layer from an repetitive abrasion injury, there really isn't much you can do except stay off it (ie. avoiding further injury) and giving it time to heal. Rubbing something on it may make it feel a little better but probably won't do much else. Antibiotics won't do anything unless there is a secondary infection (not too likely).

The primary treatment is prevention. Comfortable saddle, good bike shorts, etc.. For long rides, I like to use liberal amounts of chamois cream to reduce chaffing. I buy a cheap body lotion at Walmart and put it on pretty thick (really no need to buy the expensive bike specific brands).

This is a little odd but for really long rides, I have even used a couple large padded bandaids on each cheek (right where I tend to chafe). They work well but are a little bit of a nusiance because I have to use my electric shaver to remove the hair in the area. It sounds wierd but it works for me for long multiday stage races or rides. By the way, since you mentioned the medical community, I am an Internal Medicine Physician.

I just recently got saddle sores after cycling for about five years. Snip....


I"ve never had saddle sores, so I don't have any advice there. I'm just curious why you are getting saddle sores after 5 years of riding. Have you changed anything?

I changed from a $40 shorts with a plain jane pad to the "Happy Ass" Pearl Izumi Ultra Sensor shorts and the difference is amazing. I do put some "Butt Butt'r" on the spots before putting on but do not think I would have had any "spots" if I had bought the good shorts first. Friend (and fellow rider) said bibs are even better. Wash after every ride.

I mix up equal parts of bag balm and chamiois butter.

The Selle Italia Gel Flow saddle that came stock with my bike was giving me saddle sores with out mercy, despite the many positional changes I made and using Assos chamois creme. I tried the Arione and a few hundred miles into it I feel no rubbage at all.

neosporin

vagisil

I"ve never had saddle sores, so I don't have any advice there. I'm just curious why you are getting saddle sores after 5 years of riding. Have you changed anything?

It's because of the incredibly long ride he took... :lol:

Bag balm after the shower works to relieve pain if you've already abraded the skin. Assos chamois cream works well in all situations.

i had one hideous one, turned into a boil and had to go to the docs and get antibiotics. nothing to mess with as they like to leave hardened scar tissue.

cortizone cream. Ah, refreshing...

Neosporin and butt butt'r

Windex.

I put neosporin on mine one day, believing that it wouldn't really do anything. To my surprise within 24 hours they were much better.

I've read neosporin is dangerous, it can basically lead to an infection becoming resistant and becoming MSRA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus). Not sure if that's true or not.

To answer the questions, this did happen one week when I rode more than usual. I commuted to work 20 miles round trip four days then did a mountain climb over the weekend. At the time I was also very bad about changing out of my shorts and showering right away. Also, on my commute I wear the same shorts in as I do on the way home. Oh, one last factor was that it was incredibly hot that week.

i tried all kinds of stuff. first, lowering my saddle just a bit and upgrading my shorts to bibs made the biggest difference. you should always try to determine the cause first and correct that.

anyway, where is eveyone buying Bag Balm at. meaning, any local retailers like Walgreens or Walmart?

later.

anyway, where is eveyone buying Bag Balm at. meaning, any local retailers like Walgreens or Walmart?


I found some at Walgreens.

Cooleric, just a word of caution here - saddle sores suddenly occurring when they never happened before may be a sign of something else.

Several years ago I started having problems with skin infections with all of the hallmarks of saddle sores, but not necessarily in the usual saddle sore locations. (I was getting them occasionally in places like the armpits, at my waist where my belt would be positioned, etc.) It turned out that these were the result of high blood glucose (and were variously described as "boils" or "carbuncles"), and I ended up being diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic.

I suggest that a visit to your family doctor may be in order - they can do a simple blood test called a Hemoglobin A1C that can determine your average blood glucose level for the past 90 days. May be worth it.

This is going to sound disgusting...HOWEVER....I seem to get saddle sores ever since I purchased a new pair of nicks. First couple of sores, I sterilised a needle, punctured them, squeezed the puss out, dabbed with T-Tree oil - finito! Of course, there is risk of infection.

My next plan of attack is replace nicks (very annoyed about that), buy some butt cream and pray to the cycling Gods. I've been cycling for 20 years, maybe it is part of the aging process, but at 42, I just don't see that it should be a problem just yet.

I was using Bag Balm, but it would a) not quite do the job and b) make me offended at the smell of myself after a ride (seriously, i had to roll the windows down in my car driving home it was so goddamn bad). Switched to assos creme and it does a better job with less offensive reek after the ride. I also use some body glide right on the sit bone area and that seems to have cut down the incidence by quite a bit (not completely gone, but much better)..

hey cooleric,
here's what's worked for me:
for healing current sores: bag balm; stay off your saddle till they heal.
for prevention: assos chamois creme or butt'r chamois creme; change out of your riding shorts immediately after riding; of course always ride with clean shorts.
good luck!
rj

:thumb: I have to agree with everything here.

Oronine ointment.

144888

Haven't got a saddle sore since I started using this after the post-ride shower.

I see this thread is back from the dead. As an update I thought I'd mention what the professionals recommend. I saw a dermatologist and this was the course of action. I was prescribed some oral antibiotics (Minocycline). The doctor said to take two a day for a month then one a day for a couple of months. Beware of light sensitivity. The doctor also told me to pick up some Hibiclens from behind the pharmacy counter (not prescription) and scrub the area two times a week while showering.

The Minocycline has made the sores go down, but one still isn't completely gone. We'll see what happens in the next month or so.