OT(ish) dealing with DIY injuries

[John Rumm]

Not really restricted to DIY but...

When I was a kid we used to buy a tub of gloop called Lion Ointment[1] for dressing wounds. It was particularly good for dealing with dirty wounds, or ones with fragments in like splinters, or gravel acquired while aquaplaning off one's bike across a new road surface etc. Slap some on, dress it, and a day or so later it would have drawn anything that should not have been in there out and into the dressing. It was very effective on septic wounds as well. Alas they no longer seem to make it, so what do people use these days as a drawing agent on a wound?

[1] A concoction of petroleum jelly, beeswax and various other things made by Burgess IIRC. It was golden in colour, a stiff "set honey" like viscosity, and with a distinctive aroma. We originally found out about it following a recommendation from a chap who had served in the trenches in WWI and found it ideal for drawing shrapnel fragments from wounds.

[dennis]

Pop into chemist and ask for drawing ointment.

[Mark Bluemel]

suggests it's still available.

[Mark Bluemel]

...

And someone else is selling "Lioness Ointment" as a plug-compatible replacement

[John Rumm]

well spotted! last time I did a search for it not much showed up...

[Cicero]

=================================== When the chemist is closed use the cheaper and more readily available bread poultice - useful for splinters or boils.

A thick slice of bread (cut to size of wound) soaked in very hot water (as hot as can be tolerated) and held in place with a bandage. Repeat as necessary.

Cic.

[Adam Aglionby]

Current wonder product that can honestly recommend is Burnshield hydrogel ,as one vendor says its a lot more effective than putting the burn under a running tap, if you happen to be close to a tap...

always keep a couple of sachets around especially in van and toolbox.

Adam

[The Medway Handyman]

:-) I read that as loin ointment........

[The Medway Handyman]

The ambulance service use sterile clingfilm on burns. Ordinary clingfilm is an acceptable substitute according to EMT3 daughter. Wrap in clingfilm, go to A&E.

[Andy Hall]

There's always one, isn't there.

Mind you, with flying bits of angle grinder, that might be the correct application.

[dom]

I must be doing this diy thing wrong.

So far I haven't required medical attention.

[John Rumm]

Probably what you would need if you stuck a knotted wire brush in an angle grinder and used it while wearing shorts! ;-)

[John Rumm]

Well me neither[1], but that does not mean I don't need the occasional sticking plaster etc!

(I was also thinking in terms of the sprogs who are getting to the sort of age where gluing bits back on becomes a more regular requirement)

[1] I did once take my finger to see the nurse at the GPs to ask advice on dressing it after planing the end off it with a thicknesser. A week or two of gelonet gause actually persuaded the missing bit to grow back just like a real one.

[Brian G]

It's also very acceptable for wound dressings as well! If you cut yourself, wrap the clingfilm around the cut and then apply a standard dressing over this.

When you then turn up at A&E or re-dress the wound properly yourself, the dirty dressing comes off first, then the clingfilm, which comes off cleanly - rather than tugging at a lint dressing that's stuck to the gore with the obvious results.... and more bleeding.

As taught on a 4 day first responder course by an ex A&E charge nurse - and it works a treat.

Brian G

[The Natural Philosopher]

We followed a fairly strict sequence.

First, wash everything in sopay water to get rid of particles of dirt. Remove splinters.

Then douse affected area in (depending which parents house the accident occured) Dettol, TCP, Iodine or Hydrogen peroxide.

Fold any loose flaps of skin back over the gaping holes.

use sticking plaster (small stuff) or cotton wool pads, plus bandage (big holes) to staunch bleeding.

If it looked bad enough to scar, get stitched at doctors. If it was something filthy you got cut on, get tetanus booster.

I don;t do any different toady, except micro pore tape is useful to do rapid stitching, and, doused with Cyanoacrylate glue, makes a pretty decent temporary skin.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I remember hot kaolin poultices..but with antibiotics, there wasn't the need to locally sterilize like that..we just take the pills these days.

[The Natural Philosopher]

With burns THE most VITAL thing is *instant and prolonged* cooling. There is no need to worry about sterility: the bugs are as dead as the blistered peeling skin.

Only after you have done the ten minutes under a running tap or icey bath, should you wrap it up and get to A and E.

One picture that sticks in my mind from the New Scientist some years back was a picture of an Indian woman's arm: She had caught a pan full of smoking ghee..and had put her hand in the only thing she had - a bucket of water.

From the elbow down her arm was perfect. Above a clear waterline the arm was a mass of scar tissue..some years after the accident.

[nightjar]

I simply keep a stock of non-adherent dressings in the first-aid kit.

Colin Bignell

[John Rumm]

Tried once or twice as a kid IIRC. You end up with a small bit of puss filled toast!

Another one is an Epsom salts poultice...

[Adam Aglionby]

This is an interesting review of Burnshield:

used it on soldering iron burns myself, but catering people swear by it, its a hell of a lot more effective than the Burnezee freezer sprays of old. Appears by above article to do with cooling and hydrating, the Tea Tree oil is a local anisthetic as far as understand.

Thanks for the cling film tip.

Adam