Innovative Wound Care

[ArcticDiver]

Like many questions this one grew from an injury I sustained due to my being a klutz for just a moment. That cost me taking the hide off the bottom of one of my great toes from the ball of the foot to the first joint; ending in a laceration. Bloody Meat!

Now I don't mind blood, after all I've seen plenty. But, I do mind mine! Plusl, the sprain and jammed toe Hurt. Anyway, I was scheduled for a week of diving that now wasn't going to happen. After all, who puts that kind of trauma into tropical sea water to give the bugs a place to hide and feed? To say nothing of the difficulty finning when I was having difficulty walking.

It was amazing to me the suggestions I got on how to treat the trauma and continue diving. One person suggested I cover the area with duct tape (with nothing between the tape and the raw meat by the way). Ouch!!! Another suggested I cover the area with Super Glue. That person said they use it all the time. Again, Ouch! Another person recommended NuSkin. Another recommended spray on burn care.

These are pretty common methods of wound care. I've even used a couple them myself on smaller lacerations, burns, etc., or in situations where I've had no choice.

But, it raised the question when a person wants to dive what are some pretty good methods of protecting and caring for wounds that go beyond the very minor abrasion or laceration ?

What are your innovative, not necessarily by the book ideas?

 

[drl]

Do they make finger cots for toes? Finger cots are latex "fingers" that are meant to be slipped over an injured/bandaged finger to keep it dry and protected. You have to use tape or something at the top (I sometimes make do with a hair elastic) to seal water out. I don't think they are large enough for a big toe but they might make something similar for toes. For an injury like yours it would have to go on over gauze or other padding. I'm still cringing just thinking about that!
Hope you heal soon!

 

[TSandM]

I'll preface this with saying that this is NOT medical advice, nor necessarily even sound advice, but I am a great fan of Tegaderm, which is the stretchy, adhesive dressing material we use over IV sites and for skin graft donor sites. You can buy something similar over the counter, but I can't remember what it's called. If you use a sticky site prep called benzoin, you can put this stuff over a wound and it will stay on in the water. Because it's stretchy, you can conform it to odd-shaped sites fairly well (although the sole of the foot would be a challenge). I've actually used it to close wounds that would otherwise have required suturing (on myself). I love the stuff.

Again, THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE TO ANYBODY!

 

[ArcticDiver]

To reinforce a cautionary point:

The First Rule Of Innovative Wound Care is for people to take responsibility for their own actions and to understand that not all outcomes are ideal. Most of the time though it is making the best of a bad situation and living with the results.

 

[freediver]

Honey or granulated sugar for an open wound.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Honey or granulated sugar for an open wound.

OK, I'll bite. ????????

 

[Arizona]

A paramedic I dived with a while back mentioned crazy glue. He claimed to use it all the time. How do you take it off? I bet is slows the healing process as well. I am not recommending it, but wonder if anyone has thoughts on using it.

AZ

 

[Kevrumbo]

I use Super/Crazy Glue for fissures and paper cut type lacerations. . .

The use of cyanoacrylate glues in medicine was considered fairly early on. Eastman Kodak and Ethicon began studying whether the glues could be used to hold human tissue together after surgery. In 1964, Eastman submitted an application to use cyanoacrylate glues to seal wounds to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Soon afterward Dr. Harry Coover's glue did find use in Vietnam—reportedly in 1966, cyanoacrylates were tested on-site by a specially trained surgical team, with impressive results. In an interview with Dr. Coover by the Kingsport Times-News, Coover said that the compound demonstrated an excellent capacity to stop bleeding, and during the Vietnam War, he developed disposable cyanoacrylate sprays for use in the battlefield.

Cyanoacrylate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Arizona]

Kevrumbo,

Do you just let it peel off when it’s ready, or use it like New Skin? New Skin recommends using more of its liquid to take off previous coats when it is still wet.

Taken from the same source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate):

"The original Eastman formula was not FDA approved for medical use, however, because of a tendency to cause skin irritation and to generate heat. In 1998 the FDA approved 2-octyl cyanoacrylate for use in closing wounds and surgical incisions. Closure Medical has developed medical cyanoacrylates such as Dermabond, Soothe-N-Seal and Band-Aid Liquid Adhesive Bandage."

So New Skin may very well be a derivative of cyanoacrylate glues marketed under another name.

Thanks,

AZ

 

[fisherdvm]

To me, a wound from the toes to the mid shin is a complicated wound. Many surgeons have operated in this area without fully comprehending the physics involved get themselves into a non healing wound.

About 1/10 of the population has venous disease, or significant varicose veins. These are difficult to heal without external support via a compression stocking or acewrap. Even without venous disease, the hydrostatic pressure exerted in this area causes much swelling, discharge, and poor circulation.

I would recommend a good plastic surgeon, podiatrist, dermatologist or wound care physician to help your wound heal. I would recommend an antifungal cream on the skin outside of the wound, if you have evidence of athlete feet, plus a good antistaph and strep antibiotic like bactroban ointment (prescription only) on the wound itself.

A large wound like this should be cleaned daily with either hydrogen peroxide or sterile saline initially, the use of a nonadherent petroleum jelly impregnated gauze (relatively inexpensive), and daily if not twice daily bandage changes.

As weight bearing causes further impairment of the circulation of the wound, a podiatrist can recommend special padding to improve circulation and let you bear weight better without traumatizing the wound.