phoenity

I've been cycling for a little over a year now. I experienced my first crash in a race back in June when I clipped a pedal in a turn and went down. The road rash from that crash was relatively minor.

About ten days ago bad luck caught up with me and my chain snapped as I was standing and sprinting down a straight flat. I was probably doing near 30mph and went down instantly. I was in a rural area and the road surface was chip seal rather than smooth asphalt, so it acted like a cheese grater against my skin.

I hope this is the worst road rash I ever have to experience. People see my wounds and ask me if I was in a motorcycle accident. I covered the wounds from day one with Tegaderm and kept it covered until completely healed. Even though they healed quickly I can tell they're going to leave some nice battle scars. One on my calf measures 3"x5" and one on my thigh measures 4"x7".

I was curious what experience you guys have had with various scar treatments. I've done some reading on Google and found that one of the most effective treatments is silicone sheet coverings. It's apparently used successfully in the medical field for plastic surgery and burn victims. The silicone sheets are pretty expensive, but they can be washed and reused. I figure the sooner I apply something the better.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

nycwtorres

My wife went down pretty bad 2 1/2 weeks ago, she was very cautious about the scarring thing. So far she has been keeping tons and tons of anti bacterial ointment (like icing on a cake) on her road rash re-bandaging and cleaning it often. This has prevented the nasty hard dark scabs that us boys get because we don't care so much.

Now she has a nice pink layer of new skin covering the area of the road rash. Her main strategy is to keep it moisturized and clean. so far so good

hope that helps

ShadowGray

lemon juice.

At least that's what my sister tells me. Never tried it though.

kudude

you did the right thing with tegaderm. Don't let it get too much sun, other than that, google I guess, same as other scars.

nachomc

That's not nice

ripperj 

sun is hugh-keep it lathered with sun block
-my sons Dr told us to buy vitamin E capsules and break them open and smear the goo on the scar. (scar on face)

Ed in GA

Yeah, right!

MDcatV

sorry to hear of a crash and glad it wasnt broken bones or worse. unfortunately, you're going to have some scars. I've tried using vitamin E oil from places like the body shop or other skin care retailers, and also tried emu blue oil - something similar to this: https://www.911healthshop.com/ulbluwmemuoi.html, which aside from what I thought to be a noxious smell seemed to help some.

baxtefer

+1 Vitamin E lotion/oil

caloso

Wear those scars with pride! Much, much cooler than a tattoo.

filtersweep

I don't even care about mine. Eventually they heal--- road rash that is. Being impaled by a fence post in another story. I am still discolored from a crash 4 months ago--- on my hip.

taliesin

Mederma works well and is sold over the counter now. Plain Vaseline or Neosporin works fine too.

canuck4levi

I had a recent severe cash of road rash, and the over the counter stuff wasn't phasing it (I tired Neosporin, Bacimycin (sp?), etc. for a few days). When I was still getting ooze from the rash, my doctor prescribed something they use for burns called Flamazine, made by Smith & Nephew, which, incidentally, was Floyd Landis' kit sponsor while he was riding Leadville last year -- don't ask me more about it since I don't want to know. This stuff kicked the rash' rear end and I was basically healed in no time. I have a drug plan which covers it, 'cuz it ain't necessarily cheap, but the stuff downright worked!

CrimsonKarter21

Dude, I wear my road rash scars with pride. I've got pink blotches on the back of my right hand and on my elbow. It's a nice conversation piece, and I show it to the n00bs so they have something to look forward to when their rash heals.

bw286

i did this after major broken arm surgery. it worked pretty well, the scarring is no longer purple and angry, returned to a much more natural skincolor.

UniversalFrost

they have some of the scar lotions out that are just normal sunblock and vitamin e to help the healing. One thing my doctor told me when I was getting stitched up from my crash in july was to keep the areas out of the sun and use a nice ointment . i lathered the areas with triple anti biotic oint ment and still dab a bit on them now that they are healed to keep the areas soft and the scars have started to go away.

JOe

spry

A neighbor of mine was a biochemist and the Toledo company he worked for developed a gel-type bandage to place over wounds to prevent scaring.
Perhaps Dr. Pete would know if this product is on the market now.
Second option is to get it covered with a Grateful Dead tattoo at one of those cheesy parlors.