Wound in the tropics ?

[scubajunky17]

I have to say, it made my wound scab straight away and also seems waterproof, went for a snorkel and it was all intact at the end.
It's like it forms a protective crust over the wound.
My toe is looking good, no swelling really and no sign of infection so far, confident that this stuff will do the trick for me.

It is similar in that it disinfects, cleans wounds and is red but very different in the way it works as it forms a scab almost immediately, seems to massively speed up the healing process and is full of chinese herbal extracts (who knows whether they are all good or bad?) .

Many of the locals in Indo use it and surfers (who constantly pick up reef cuts particularly on their feet) have been using since time immoral, I first used it in the early 90's and was annoyed when i could not find it in Europe as it was top of my first aid pack when surfing and diving around SE Asia in the 90's

 

[chillyinCanada]

Not saying it was the case here but strep infections themselves can cause blisters.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have to say, it made my wound scab straight away and also seems waterproof, went for a snorkel and it was all intact at the end.
It's like it forms a protective crust over the wound.
My toe is looking good, no swelling really and no sign of infection so far, confident that this stuff will do the trick for me.

Looks so ugly though.

I'm going to try to get some for my kit!

Keep up the good work healing.

Glad that you stayed out of the water.

 

[living4experiences]

A long time ago but there is 30 years protection I believe.

Tetanus shots should be boosted every 10 years.

Edit: I got behind in reading previous pages, so this question was already answered.

 

[Russjstewart]

How the heck did you get bitten by a moray?!

My partner was photographing a black moray using a strobe, so it was not happy, she then swam over to me, to say look at the moray, of course she found a different moray. I was busy taking its picture while my hand was dangling down in front of the really p!$$ed off one, it got its revenge, on the wrong person
Her photo before it fanged me

 

[chillyinCanada]

My partner was photographing a black moray using a strobe, so it was not happy, she then swam over to me, to say look at the moray, of course she found a different moray. I was busy taking its picture while my hand was dangling down in front of the really p!$$ed off one, it got its revenge, on the wrong person
Her photo before it fanged me

You're quite lucky that it wasn't worse. A friend of mine almost lost his arm.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

If you keep diving with a wound it'll get worse as the skin gets soft and helps the infection. I've had several really nasty infections from diving with small open wounds and I know instructor buddy who had the same issue. Sometimes turning tiny wound into literal infected holes in the flesh. Not kidding.

Stay out of the water, keep it dry and clean and if you don't have access to other stuff from a doctor you can put sugar on the wound. It'll dry out the wound and kill bacteria.

Concur with everything in this post except for the sugar. Sugar could actually make infections worse. You may be thinking of honey, which does have antimicrobial properties, but that has nothing to do with the sugar content. There are commercially made wound dressings that contain honey.

@scubajunky17 , full disclosure, I didn't take the time to read this entire thread so there may be some repeat information here. Some thoughts: first, diving with an open wound does increase the risk of you getting a serious infection. Vibrio vulnificus is a common waterborne organism that has been known to cause necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating bacteria in layman's terms). Also, depending on where you're diving, there can be high concentrations of coliform bacteria like enterococcus species and E. Coli.

As far as wound care, you can wash it with plain soap and water to keep the bioburden down. I would recommend against betadine or rubbing alcohol. You can certainly use an over-the-counter triple antibiotic on it and dress it with an adhesive bandage. I don't know of anything on the market that will guarantee that there won't be water intrusion into a wound, especially one like you have. The New-Skin liquid bandage that another poster recommended might work but I wouldn't hang my hat on it.

The conservative approach would be to wash the wound thoroughly by hand with soap and water daily, dry it, put triple antibiotic and an adhesive bandage on it, and wait for it to heal before diving again.

A less conservative/more risky approach would be to put a dressing on it to protect it from friction before diving, then immediately after diving, wash it with soap and water as described above and re-dress it with triple antibiotic and an adhesive bandage.

In either case, you'll need to keep a very close eye on it for signs of infection: redness, swelling, warmth, pain, and fever. Any of those is an immediate trip to a provider who can prescribe oral antibiotics. Do NOT go to a pharmacy that sells antibiotics and pull one off the shelf and take it (if you're in a place where that's a possibility), it may not cover whatever organism is causing the infection.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[scubajunky17]

Concur with everything in this post except for the sugar. Sugar could actually make infections worse. You may be thinking of honey, which does have antimicrobial properties, but that has nothing to do with the sugar content. There are commercially made wound dressings that contain honey.

@scubajunky17 , full disclosure, I didn't take the time to read this entire thread so there may be some repeat information here. Some thoughts: first, diving with an open wound does increase the risk of you getting a serious infection. Vibrio vulnificus is a common waterborne organism that has been known to cause necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating bacteria in layman's terms). Also, depending on where you're diving, there can be high concentrations of coliform bacteria like enterococcus species and E. Coli.

As far as wound care, you can wash it with plain soap and water to keep the bioburden down. I would recommend against betadine or rubbing alcohol. You can certainly use an over-the-counter triple antibiotic on it and dress it with an adhesive bandage. I don't know of anything on the market that will guarantee that there won't be water intrusion into a wound, especially one like you have. The New-Skin liquid bandage that another poster recommended might work but I wouldn't hang my hat on it.

The conservative approach would be to wash the wound thoroughly by hand with soap and water daily, dry it, put triple antibiotic and an adhesive bandage on it, and wait for it to heal before diving again.

A less conservative/more risky approach would be to put a dressing on it to protect it from friction before diving, then immediately after diving, wash it with soap and water as described above and re-dress it with triple antibiotic and an adhesive bandage.

In either case, you'll need to keep a very close eye on it for signs of infection: redness, swelling, warmth, pain, and fever. Any of those is an immediate trip to a provider who can prescribe oral antibiotics. Do NOT go to a pharmacy that sells antibiotics and pull one off the shelf and take it (if you're in a place where that's a possibility), it may not cover whatever organism is causing the infection.

Best regards,
DDM

Thanks
Sound advice, sugar does have strong infection prevention, quite a bit written on it.
Jing seems to be doing the trick so far, seals it.
Thanks for taking the time. Appreciate everyone's input.

 

[tridacna]

My partner was photographing a black moray using a strobe, so it was not happy, she then swam over to me, to say look at the moray, of course she found a different moray. I was busy taking its picture while my hand was dangling down in front of the really p!$$ed off one, it got its revenge, on the wrong person
Her photo before it fanged me

Morays are almost completely blind. You just smelled yummy.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Thanks
Sound advice, sugar does have strong infection prevention, quite a bit written on it.
Jing seems to be doing the trick so far, seals it.
Thanks for taking the time. Appreciate everyone's input.

I'm personally in favor of naturopathic remedies when they're effective and use them myself, but I do not know of any peer-reviewed literature that supports placing sugar directly in a wound as a wound care adjunct. There is some literature about sugar dressings but I don't know that that is duplicable with ordinary sugar since it's concentration-dependent and lower concentrations actually have the opposite effect (i.e. they act as a medium). There are better remedies out there that are readily available.

Best regards,
DDM