Any wound experts out there? (includes pic - warning!)

[Helpmechooseausername]

Hi, I need some advice on wounds please! DD12 injured her leg 8 days ago. I took her to the minor injuries unit and they cleaned and steri stripped it. It was too wide to stitch (to DDs great relief) and is reasonably deep, but right on her shin bone. Poor thing, it might have really hurt!

We went back to the MIU 5 days ago (they told us to) and they re dressed it and told me to take the dressing off today. I've done that, it's looking much better than it was, but still an open wound so it still needs to be dressed.

I've put a large 'normal' mepore dressing on for now but should I be using a different dressing, and if so, what type? I'm not sure if I should use one that keeps it wet or not, or if it's better to have a breathable one, or something else! Any advice would be great, thanks!

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Dh had an injury like that and he had special dressings that kind of filled in the skin.

I’m not a medical expert but I find if I stop the area getting really dry I get less scarring.
I usually use a non adhesive dressing and cohesive bandage…for me or the dog!
Bit of sudocrem around the sides of the wound.

Thanks. I've heard that the plasters that keep the wound wet help them to heal better but just don't know!

Yes moisture promotes healing, go to the chemist tomorrow and ask them to recommend something.

I would get advice from a GP or a Nurse but i would look at cutimed sorbact dressing with Allevyn gentle border plasters

the area around it looks red but I think it’s from the Adhesive.

Call 111 and you can send pictures in and they will direct you to the correct service. If you do it online you can send picture straight away.

I had a bad burn and did this after pharmacy said they couldn’t help.

Also had minor surgery and it didn’t heal and the minor injuries unit as was sorted out a iodine dressing

My mum had a terrible car accident as was left with a “chunk” out of her leg. The tissue needs to granulate. but there are a million types of amazing dressings now . 111 is they way to go or straight to a walk in centre.

Did you get sorted op?

I decided to go for ' moist ' wound healing so got some hydrocolloid plasters. DD hates the idea of keeping it wet but I think it will heal better this way!

We'd already been to the minor injuries unit twice, I just wanted advice on how to dress it. The red area around it that you mentioned was where she'd hit it in the first place - that turned into a good bruise!

Hope your DD is ok!

it so frustrating when they don’t pack you off with enough dressing for a week or so.

glad you got sorted

I would definitely recommend hydrocolloid plasters, they can stay on for 3-4 days at a time.
I had a similar injury two weeks ago, it’s totally healed now.

It didn't even occur to me to ask about after care when we left - doh! I get why they didn't send me off with dressings (£££) but I wish I'd got some advice for how to deal with it while it continues to heal!

Great, thanks. I put one on yesterday and it's all full of blood / gunk, so I'll change that in a bit and then hopefully the next one will stay on for a few days.
Glad to hear yours has healed up - we go on holiday in 2.5 weeks and I really want it to be healed so that she can swim!!

These pics show how it was yesterday!

Vaseline is great for keeping wounds clean and healing nicely, I've had to become a wound expert and it makes a huge difference in speed of healing and lack of scarring. I just use vaseline and a non-adhesive dressing. Good luck OP!

I can see that vaseline would be good for the skin, but do you put that on after it's sealed over a bit? This is still an open wound. Thanks

Hmmm that's a good point, I'm not entirely sure and am usually dealing more with surface wounds. Maybe when it's knitted together a bit more?

I would recommend not using vaseline or anything like sudocrem. Wash it with sterilised water once a day, use a mepore dressing to keep in covered and clean and if it starts to feel warm, have pus coming out of the would or she feels generally unwell take her back to urgent care. It’s wide but doesn’t look deep and the skin should heal quickly.

Thanks. It's deeper than it looks - the nurses said it was about 8mm deep. There was something that they thought might have been a cut tendon but luckily it was a bit of skin that got embedded. And right over her shin bone - I was surprised there was enough flesh there for it to go so deep! Poor thing, it still makes me go funny when I think about her doing it in the first place!!

I think if a would is too wide/deep to stitch, steri strips wouldn’t be the best alternative? Surely it would need more intense treatment.

The nurses (2 who were there at first, then they called a third, more senior (presumably) nurse to come and examine her leg) had a good look at it, cleaned it, checked out the flap of skin that was pretending to be tendon, checked that there was no nerve damage and then discussed what course of action to take. They all agreed steri strips would be best.

When we went back a few days later I was really surprised by how well it had healed up already. They didn't put more steri strips on (they took the first ones off as they were all wet) and redressed it. Maybe they should have put more steri strips on, but I guess it's too late for that now!