Using Tegaderm

[Ozz]

Found this and thought it was interesting (wound types and applicable dressings): Comparison Chart of dressing options

[pasadena]

Tegaderm is a brand name like Kleenex
There is a hydrocolloid Tegaderm
The film version you are talking about is used to cover wound dressings airtight.

I bought medical supply tegaderm in 6x8 sheets. hydrocolloid.

There are many, many shapes and sizes and types.
3M has a consumer friendly version under the Nexcare brand.

Originally Posted by benb

A lot of the current/newer crop of health care professionals aren't using Tegaderm because it fell out of favor with them quite a while ago and newer nurses/doctors might have been working in a system where it's never been recommended for use since they started working. I'd still expect them to know what the various products are and immediately tell you why they don't recommend a particular course of action.

AFAICT there are 2 different products that cyclists confuse:

1) Actual Tegaderm - plastic film that's thinner than even kitchen plastic wrap and it's clear

2) The hypercolloid barrier products which are translucent white and turn opaque as they absorb fluids. These are much thicker than the tegaderm.

My experience has been the hypercolloid barriers work a lot better on road rash.. I didn't even know for years and years those were not Tegaderm, everyone I rode/raced with called it Tegaderm even though it wasn't. My understanding is you're way more likely to have medical professionals recommend the hypercolloid barrier products.

But I would not expect a doctor a doctor to trust your home cleanup if you subsequently go into the hospital. Way too big of a chance the patient didn't do a good enough job and there could be a dangerous infection lurking.

By the way OP you get some kind of ridiculous hard-man-of-the-year award for cleaning yourself up with a collapsed lung.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by steelbikerider

I rode home first It was a long 10 miles.

Stud....

[HenryA]

Originally Posted by steelbikerider

I rode home first It was a long 10 miles.

Heal well tough guy!

[zmudshark]

advanced wound dressings brought to you by war.

Hope to never crash again, but tegaderm really helped last time. I’m pretty sure @thwart told me about it. He’s real smart.

[Spoker]

Woundcare nurses at work confirm; scabs are not a good thing in wound healing (like I was still taught in school). Evolution just got bypassed.

[berserk87]

Originally Posted by clyde the point

Wounds like road rash heal better/faster when allowed to dry and not covered up in Saran Wrap. Keeps them too wet.

I don't know if that's accurate. I had some significant skin grafting done and the plastic surgeon used Tegaderm over the donor site. It seemed to heal nicely.

I've also used Tegaderm a fair amount. I can't tell if my wounds healed faster, but I did not have to deal with seepage through bandages or clothing, and the lack of exposure to air controlled the pain a lot.

In terms of healing "better", I don't know how you quantify that. What does that mean, or to what are you referring? Less scarring perhaps?

[tctyres]

My method as given to me by the nurse at the orthopedic surgeon's office:

Clean the wound, carefully.
Apply antibiotic gel (bacitracin, neosporin, triple antibiotic ointment etc)
For deeper wounds, use a xeroform.
Cover with a bandage. I use the tegaderms with the absorbent piece on them, band aids of various sizes, gauze, and medical tape. Be careful not to put adhesive on any road rash.
^ repeat this daily, changing the dressings.

If you want, you can let the wound air out a bit between cleaning and covering, but for the most part, road rash heals best when it is kept moist.

[thwart]

Originally Posted by tctyres

... road rash heals best when it is kept moist.

Correct.

I've had perhaps a bit too much personal experience.

[clyde the point]

With all due apologies I was referring to the clear plastic covering. The hydrocolloid versions are much better. I choose to cover with non stick dressing until scab forms. There are many methods of wound care. Did not mean to state my method is any better than anyone else's. That is what works for me.

[benb]

Yah the brand names are very confusing. The clear/thin film is the stuff I haven’t had good luck with.

I had a skin cancer excision earlier this year, luckily not cancerous. They didn’t want me using these products. They wanted me using normal bandages with a Vaseline type product applied every day. Well that scarred pretty darn badly, but that was a lot deeper than road rash.

[wasfast]

There was a lengthy article on Slowtwitch a few years ago by an ER doc. This text is an abbreviated version of that article. The content is not mine but his/theirs.


Road Rash: The Definitive Guide
1) Wash and scrub the grime from the wound (debridement). Perform this in a shower immediately and wash out the wound really well under running water, scrubbing gently with your finger tips or clean washcloth and soap. Municipal water is clean enough to irrigate your wounds.

2) If the wound is too painful to scrub, apply topical 4% lidocaine cream to the wound and take a Tylenol 15 minutes before your washing routine."

3) You need a tetanus shot if you haven’t gotten one in the last 10 years.

4) No need for alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or betadine for open wounds.
5) Do not open air your wounds. A moist wound healing environment heals the fastest with less scarring. Airing wounds inhibits new skin cells from growing and invites new bacteria to enter your body.

6) Bandage with a non-adherent or "non-stick" bandage to prevent pulling off new skin growth.
a) petrolatum-impregnated gauze (brand name Xeroform)
b) silicone-adhesive based sticky bandages (brand name Mepilex)
7) Change bandages daily or every other day, depending on the amount of bleeding. Silicone-based antibiotic bandage (Mepilex Ag) may be left on up to 7 days.

8) Neosporin not recommended due to possible allergic reaction after long use. Use Xeroform dressing or Aquaphor.

Have on hand, buy in Advance:

- Xeroform non-adherent gauze: to cover all kinds of road rashes.
- Abdominal gauze pads (also called ABD pads): these collect drainage and blood, placed over the non-adherent gauze (Xeroform).
- Surgilast elastic net: holds bandages in place on arms and legs (see the image highest above).
- Mepilex bordered foam dressing: to cover smaller & flatter wounds (the pink bandages with the rounded corners).
- Lidocaine cream & tylenol pills: optional for pain control.

If the wound is becoming red, warm and painful, these are often symptoms of skin infection. A doctor can apply doxycycline.

Scar Prevention. Treat as above and protect from from UV rays.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by wasfast

3) You need a tetanus shot if you haven’t gotten one in the last 10 years.

This is interesting. I've never had a tetanus shot in my life. (that I know of, I suppose I might have gotten one when I was a little kid)

Edit: CDC web site ( https://www.cdc.gov/tetanus/about/index.html )

Says there that there are about 30 reported cases per year in the US.

[scoobydrew]

I do the standard wound-cleaning described in wasfast's post.

Afterwards, I put on hydrocolloid dressing, which has an absorbent pad that turns to gel after soaking up the wound weepage. After a couple of days, I switch out to standard transparent film dressing (Tegaderm). If there's still weepage, I leave an open "channel" in the adhesive and secure a piece of gauze to soak it up. Doesn't leave much scarring, if at all.

[palincss]

Originally Posted by pasadena

dry = scabs and scars, pain and irritation
tegaderm=faster healing, no scabs, minimal scarring and minimal pain and irritation

True - and you didn't mention the "scab - itch - scratch - exposes a raw wound - scab" cycle that for me used to prolong wounds like that long beyond their normal healing time. And the way the application of tegaderm-type barrier bandages sucks the pain right out of a road rash wound is nothing short of magical. It would be worth something even if it wasn't accompanied by faster healing and minimal scarring - but it is!

I'm simply amazed that medical staff at a hospital are unaware of this.