Dealing with a wound under hair

[kinderfool]

Tried nhs direct but their website is useless for this and their phone line is apparently jammed with swine flu enquiries.

DD (6yo) had nits about 3 weeks ago. We wet combed and seemed to be getting them under control but she was very itchy at the nape of her neck and kept scratching it more and more. Rang nhs direct and they said as long as the nits were being combed out it would be fine. About 10 days ago it had got to the stage where the skin was becoming red raw and the hair at the back was getting matted with bits of skin or possibly dried blood. We were still nit combing and finding hardly anything (though think school is being lax, there always seemed to be a couple more that she'd picked up in the day, couple of parents have said their kids keep getting reinfested).

Took dd to nurse at gp surgery last weds but nurse was far more concerned with discussing past immunisations or lack of (whole other thread) and barely even looked at dd's head, just saying if we kept bathing it and nit combing it would get better. Felt really brushed off and wasn't in the mood to argue just then. Now the back of dd's head is even worse - found no nits over the weekend but she scratched so much it's become a large patch of red raw skin with sore weeping patches.

She really only scratches in the night and I've tried putting gloves on but she pulls them off in her sleep so in the morning all the hair is stuck to the weeping bits and I can't even brush it until she's had a bath in the evening. I trimmed off a lot of hair (under the top layer so doesn't show) to get rid of the stuck on scabby bits but doesn't seem to have helped.

Sorry for the long-winded post but basically what do I do to treat this? Can't stick a plaster on like I would with any other wound, is it better to go back to the nurse or gp or the minor injury at the local (cottage) hospital? It's next to impossible for me to even get a look at now and dd won't let me put any germoline on or anything - if I go near it she ends up screaming and crying and I end up a nervous wreck (have a bit of a phobic thing about blood/cuts). Just fed up being fobbed off and feel so bad for dd!

[Numberfour]

go to the local hospital and asked to be seen about this. if they get side tracked, remind them that you need to get your poor DD's head sorted.

how horrible for you that the practice nurse was more interested in bloody targets!

it seems that it has escalated so badly both physically for your DD and emotionally for you (not surprised!) you do need to get it seen to at the local hospital. do you have a walk in centre you can see? or after hours doc?

good luck.. hope you get it sorted soon. it sounds so sore and so uncomfortable.

[kinderfool]

Thanks, will definitely do that - just looked up our local minor injuries and one thing they list is infected wounds, had thought before it was a bit too 'trivial' for them but at least I have more chance of them doing something!

Don't have a walk-in centre or after hours but minor injuries is open till 8 and dd gets home from friends at 6 so that'll be fine.

Thanks for the support!

[Numberfour]

let me know how you get on. i once had to take Ds to doc because he had scratched his head open in his sleep due to ecsema (sp?? sorry - no idea how to spell it!) and it was noted down has "head injury"! but i was given help.

[kinderfool]

Poor ds! Took dd last night and got seen by a mid-shift paramedic who was lovely. He said it wasn't quite bad enough to worry about any prescription creams/dressing etc but almost so to go back if it was any worse. His advice was completely opposite to the nurse - said not to worry about bathing it or brushing it at all and said he couldn't see any current sign of nits so nit combing would just irritate it.

His advice was to slather it in vaseline, especially before bath/shower to stop water/shampoo getting in, which will keep the hair from getting too stuck to the wound and slowly it should heal from the bottom up. And vaseline should be much easier than germoline to slap onto dd seeing as it shouldn't sting so much and won't slip off as easily. So feel far more positive about it now!

[Numberfour]

good to hear! is your daughter little happier now? and you? it must be really sore. hope the vaseline helps.

[kinderfool]

Sorry, only just come back on since then - dd's head back to normal now thanks, we're both MUCH happier. Paramedics advice was spot on, the vaseline worked wonders (apart from making dd look like a teenage acne sufferer after sleeping on it :P ).

Thanks for all the help.