Tegaderm?

[thwart]

Originally Posted by Gordito

AFAIK (I'm a pharmacist in France), Tegaderm is a brand, not only a product. In France the common product under the brand Tegaderm is a thin waterproof layer that you put upon the actual dressing to take your shower.

But I bet you are talking about a "colloidal" dressing for humid cicatrization. If the wound is clean (i.e. not infected) this is the best treatment for open wounds but this already has been said above.

The colloidal stuff absorbs water produced by cicatrization but always let the wound humid to enhance healing and prevent scab. When absorbing humidity, the colloidal dressing becomes white at the wound area, it's a sign it will be easy/painless to remove (part that has become white doesn't stick anymore)

Unless it's infected, colloidal dressings is the best stuff. Change it when the white part has spread way beyond the wound. The first days it might require a daily change, later you should be able to keep it in place a few days (up to 3 or 4).

Good advice, but referring to a different product.

Tegaderm (and its generic equivalents) is a clear thin plastic sheet with an adhesive edge. Opsite is similar. If fluid builds up underneath with significant pressure, it will usually spontaneously find a way to drain a bit… if not, you can poke a tiny hole with a clean needle or pin. Ideally you actually want a small amount of fluid under the dressing to facilitate healing.

Great stuff. My skin reacts to the adhesive after a day or two, unfortunately.

[dpk501]

I just put gauze at the edges of the tegraderm to catch leakage. Definitely a must if you wear dress clothes everyday.

[Muffin Man]

Had to change the dressing out every day because it kept getting caught on stuff, but my hand is almost completely healed. This stuff works!

[palincss]

It's not cheap, but it's wonderful the way it sucks the pain out of the wound as soon as you put it on, and you never get those nasty itchy scabs. I can't stop myself from scratching & peeling off scabs; this is so much better.

[Dead Man]

Originally Posted by palincss

It's not cheap, but it's wonderful the way it sucks the pain out of the wound as soon as you put it on, and you never get those nasty itchy scabs. I can't stop myself from scratching & peeling off scabs; this is so much better.

And it heals faster and cleaner than scabs anyway, which re-open and have to start over healing again every time a piece gets scratched off or rips off on clothing, etc.

I went through my pics of the crash I spoke of above and could not find any tegaderm shots, unfortunately. Could have sworn I snapped a couple, but they're not in the photo dump from that time, so I guess I didn't. I had patches on my hip, calf, forearms and the palm of my other hand. The calf really should have been tegadermed also, but I only did my hip, as it was the only part that wasn't going to just dry out on it's own. And my legs were hairy, so I knew the teg wouldn't stick well down there. The calf actually ended up weeping longer than I expected, which was lame. But when everything did finally skin over, the patch on my hip, which was by far the worst, was the FIRST to heal up completely. The parts that I let scab over took probably twice as long. As they neared being fully healed and the scabs started falling off and catching on clothes and crap, new wounds over the healed parts opened up and started bleeding all over again. Gah.

If you needed just one more reason to start shaving your legs for cycling, the ability to cleanly tegaderm wounds is a great one.

[Steve in SLO]

Originally Posted by Steve in SLO

Do what UJ'sA says and you will be okay. The white is just fluid building up in damaged skin. You do not want the wound to dry out, as that will cause a scab to begin to form, negating the advantages of the skin healing under a dressing. Tegaderm is great for this, but Opsite is better.

After reviewing this thread, I saw an error in what I had originally posted, above. What I meant was Duoderm, not Opsite.
Sorry for any confusion.

[scoobydrew]

Sorry for the thread bump from the dead, but I just want to sing some praise for Tegaderm.

Went down on gravel a little over 2 weeks ago, which left some nasty deep road (gravel?) rash. Got home, cleaned out all the wounds, and applied some of the 4x6" patches where needed. I wish I knew about using Duoderm during the initial "oozing" stages as I was having to constantly either change out the patches or create a "drain" like some of the folks here have mentioned. Either way, using this went against everything I learned early on (i.e. to let it scab over).

This stuff is pricey at the local drug store, but it is well worth it. Some sellers on Amazon are selling it in bulk for as low as $8 for a pack of 25.

[Dekonick]

I won't get too much into wound healing, wound care, dressings, etc...

The most important thing to watch for in a covered wound is infection. Redness, heat, pain, foul odor and the like. When a wound is covered, it takes far fewer bacteria to result in infection thus before you apply any dressing, make sure it is clean.

[Dekonick]

Originally Posted by scoobydrew

Sorry for the thread bump from the dead, but I just want to sing some praise for Tegaderm.

Went down on gravel a little over 2 weeks ago, which left some nasty deep road (gravel?) rash. Got home, cleaned out all the wounds, and applied some of the 4x6" patches where needed. I wish I knew about using Duoderm during the initial "oozing" stages as I was having to constantly either change out the patches or create a "drain" like some of the folks here have mentioned. Either way, using this went against everything I learned early on (i.e. to let it scab over).

This stuff is pricey at the local drug store, but it is well worth it. Some sellers on Amazon are selling it in bulk for as low as $8 for a pack of 25.

Amazing product. Expensive... but worth the expense.

[buddybikes]

ebay "transparent dressing box"and lot of different brands come up. I buy these by the 50 for diabetic pump/sensor reasons.