6.32am Thursday 5^th April 2018.

It was the second last time that we were going under the railway bridge at Olympic Park. The left hand corner with a dodgy camber.

Half way into the curve, I felt my rear wheel slide. A split second later, I was sliding on the asphalt and ended up in lane two (lucky there was no care there).

I don’t know how the other riders behind me managed to stay upright. Nicko reckons we were hitting 50km/hr around the corner. I guess sliding along the read at the same speed as the other guys on their bikes gave them more reaction time…

If I have a choice of how I come off my bike, I would choose the option of  sliding with severe road rash every time. Fortunately, this choice was made for me this morning. My head never touched the road. My mended twice broken collarbone remained intact and nothing broke. My bike had twisted levers  and I rode home on it.

But if you hit the road at 50km/hr, you have to pay for it. My payment was second degree road rash to my shoulder, arm and hip. The jersey and nicks were rather painless sacrifices…

When I got home, I knew that the shower was going to feel like hell.

I raided Shirley’s makeup gear and scrubbed the road rash under the warm shower head with ‘Dettol’ (I think I will use cold water next time) – trying hard not to scream.

When you have second degree road rash, band aids just won’t do.

I dug out my old stash of dressings. There were many choices.

In the past, I would put a gauze dressing on the wound and bandage or tape it. I would keep changing the dressings daily until the road rash scabbed up. Then it would be a few days with the scab drying (and cracking) without any dressing.

A quick visit to Dr Google suggested that this is still a valid method – although there is more leaning recently towards the ‘wet wound’ strategy.

There are two schools of thought. ‘Dry’ wound means taking the dressings off as soon as a scab starts to form – and letting the wound ‘air’.

The ‘wet’ wound method goes in the opposite direction. It means do not let any scab form at all – but keeping the wound wet 24/7.

So which method is better?

I decided to experiment. I love being a guinea pig.

In the past, I have always defaulted to the ‘dry’ school of healing. So I know how long and painful the healing path is.

 

My experiences with Smith&Nephew’s “Opsite Flexigrid”.

At about $3 for a 10cm x 12cm dressing, It is a bargain – compared to a $60 racing tyre..

It is a dressing that is not specifically designed for road rash and that is why the grid on the dressing backing makes no sense….

Day 1.

Looking back, I discovered that the shower was the worst part of the healing process. The pain started to subside as soon as the dressings went on. About 4 hours later, the pain level was down to 10%. I had put on a pair of jeans (part of my work gear) and the hip was bearable and I was climbing ladders at the end of the day.

There was weeping from the wounds and my jeans and shirt getting a bit damp became a part of my life for the next few days.

At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised at how painless my road rash had become.

Day 2.

No problems getting into my nicks and jersey for an early morning ride.

After a long hot sticky day at work on roofs, I decided to change my dressings – since they were coming loose under the shower.

All my road rashes got the ‘Opsite Flexigrid” treatment.

Day 3.

My usually Saturday morning ride. Did 70km. Life carried on. Hardly any pain – but the wounds still weeping.

Kept the same dressings on…

 

Day 4.

Went racing at Lansdowne. Hardly noticing the road rash. Kept the same dressings on (cheap skate!). Then watched Peter Sagan conquer Paris Roubaix.

Day 5.

Volume of weeping only a slight trickle. Showers got into shoulder and hip dressings and these got changed. The elbow dressing was  firm and remained unchanged.

Day 6.

No dressing change. No pain. Did I really have road rash?

Day 7.

No dressing change -although wounds getting a bit smelly…

Day 8. Thursday 12^th April 2018

One week after the accident.

Take all dressings off after evening shower.

Shoulder already had second skin and feels like a dry film. Same with elbow. Hip still damp – so this got a dressing – the final one.

Moisturized shoulder and elbow – which I would consider ‘fully healed’.

Day 9.

Hip dressing remains on. Dampness beneath the dressing.

Day 10.

Raced the Odd Spoke at Eastern creek in the morning. Took hip dressing off after shower and wound is dry after the retained moisture has been cleaned off.

 

Conclusions.

It took 7 days for the majority of the road rash to be fully healed. This is more than twice of the speed of my personal experiences with the ‘dry’ method.

No pain. No inflammation. No infections. No need for creams and daily bandage changes. Easy to take showers. No scabs to crack and hook onto clothing.

Welcome to the miracle of the ‘wet’ dressing.

Are there any cons?

Yes.

You do need to get used to the weeping of the wound fluids onto clothing and it starts to smell a bit towards from day 5 onwards.

But when the other choice is  a sore drawn out scab  wound… I know which one I will choose.