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So I had my first proper taste of road rash 3 weeks ago. Deepest holes were in my elbow, and it seemed to be healing fine, the scabs came off last week to reveal some nice new smooth pink skin.
The last couple of days I've had a strange clear blister appear where the last of the scabs were. No sign of obvious infection, might be coincidental, but wondered if anyone had had something similar? Very tempted to just pop it and drain it.....
not a dr but if it's not infected then it's some kind of protective mechanism surely? In which case I'd just leave it rather than pop it & risk getting it infected! Don't recall anything like that though on the couple of times I've had RRVery tempted to just pop it and drain it…..
Putting salt on a dressing & covering the blister will dry it out.
In the spirit of the internet I thought I'd argue with the person above 😉
In my scientific study of road rash I had about 5 deep holes but only a couple of hydrocolloid dressings. These keep the wound clean but slightly moist preventing it drying out. Where I used them the wounds healed faster overall (felt like they were healing slower at first because no big scab). I have less scaring as well. Where I used normal bandages I had problems. Not least on my elbow where when it dried out and scabbed it would crack every time I moved or knocked it on the desk.
So I'd not try to dry them out. For blisters the general first aid advice is to leave them as popping them exposes you to infection. I'd cover in a non fluffy dressing to protect if you can.
If genuinely worried try and find a walk in centre or minor injury unit?
@jonba yeah one of my RR incidents was bad enough for me to go to minor injuries, nurse cleaned & dressed it & recommended that when I wanted to change the dressing, use vaseline & clingfilm to protect the wound & stop it drying out. Worked a treat. Hydrocolloid dressings do the same job (probably a bit better!) but the big ones cost £££
I'd not let them scab over personally.
I had this but a few months after the incident, it was a bit of grit being worked out of the body.
It's incredibly easy to get sunburnt to the point of blisters on the pink bits, errr I might have discovered previously.
I did wonder if it was a buried bit of grit being worked out. It's a clear blister, no pus or sign of infection so it's a niggle rather than a worry
Yeah Vaseline a defo had a couple of bad ones this year inc one that got infected & had to make repeated nurse visits for iodine dressing too. FWIW I didn’t think I had an infection I went to minor injuries as I was worried about a fracture but the doc said yeah all that red round it is infection was out on antibiotics & it cleared up.
It will blister if it's not covered. Body's way of protecting itself. Hydrocolloid dressings are excellent although require repeated reapplication. I feel for you. Last time I had it I slipped on ice at the end of my driveway and had to limp back in to my garage!
SOP for road rash is to scrub it in the shower under hot water (whilst biting the wooden brush handle), pat dry, spray with iodine and apply Tegaderm hydrocolloid dressing. Scabbed and blistered? I'd go straight to dressing. They aren't cheap but they are excellent. I buy mine from Amazon.
My impression is you have lots of SOPs TiRED 😉