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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

Author
Simple tip for ripped skin, finger injury

EleNora
28-Aug-2014
3:27:20 PM
Hello people, here's a more light post!

Just offering to share my recent experience with a ripped callus leaving bare flesh exposed on a finger, as the new method I tried to cure it worked way better and faster than my usual routine. Complete Sissy injury compared to the average topic in here, but it's definitely not the first time this happens to me, and my climbing have been hampered but such small finger injuries before, and I wish I could have made it better that fast so...
Sorry if you all already knew all about this topic, maybe I'm the last stick in the mud that needed to know, in that case this post is dedicated to other sticks, be there any.


So normal story, bouldering too long on too soft fingers, took yet again a massive swing off a gritty, deep hold on a route I'd been working too much on, and discovered a bleeding finger, and indeed the skin was just ripped off.
Lots of very dirty chalk on my hands (was at lactic factory), so my main concern was 'how to plaster this without getting a massive infection and losing my finger in 2 days?'
Looked more horrid when I was staring at it of course... open from bottom to top of middle knuckle :

http://i.imgur.com/VNpbdA4.png

Being poor and totally dejected because I thought I was off climbing for at least a good week, I decided to ask advice in a pharmacy. The lady there took pains to tell me it's been well established now that this kind of wound ought to be kept wet, it helps the skin regenerate faster. Doctors often still opt for exactly what I would have done : drying it the heck out.
So instead I went home, got a small amount of betadine on there (was told to do that only once), without trying to squeeze any under the flapped skin (I'm a total wuss), then applied a thinck layer of the gel i was recommended. Fairly cheap, cool and not stingy at all : Solosite.
then dressed it up (with toilet paper and wound tape because I forgot to buy gauze and no one had any at my place!).

http://i.imgur.com/APY3iHw.png

I changed the whole bandage way too often compared to what I was told to, I kept wetting the bandage in the shower or cooking. Also didn't remove the skin.
On the second day I was using a plaster covered in climbing tape and bouldering on my index (not fully flexible but usable) without much more pain than on the other calussed fingers.
How it looked like before the session :

http://i.imgur.com/cv2Bimx.png

Yesterday (4 days) the flesh under the skin had healed so well already I removed most of the flap of skin, kept applying the gel, plastered and taped it more closely for better use of the joints, and took a proper thrashing of an evening leading, without any complaint on that finger besides awkward clipping.

All in all, not a sign of infection, usable finger after 2 days, climbing normally after 4 days and looking to an unplastered climbing hand after a week I reckon.
Which in my own experience, is amazing.
How it looks today :

http://i.imgur.com/zZS6lZL.png

Conclusion, keep it wet and hydrated!

Cheers, safe climbing to y'all!
grangrump
28-Aug-2014
4:08:12 PM
"Solosite"
you'd think it was made for climbers!

E. Wells
28-Aug-2014
10:09:02 PM
When I used to take wingers on gritty routes I would get flappers like this , my personal method is to not clean it at all , immediately wrap it in lots of climbing tape then dont ever take the tape off , until its all dirty and tattered around the edges , in the meantime climbing within the hour and every day after until the climbing naturally shreds all the tape off and then fall asleep in the sun to colour up that wrinkly white thing (most gyms have a little outdoors area) and vwalluh...chmed. youse digit be heeled!! This takes 6 days (one less than yours not that Im competing) and you can remove the old flapper with just a few nibbles , eat it to replace the proteins you may have lost during injury. This is probably old news to some of youse but hey , dont shoot the courier.
gaetanr
29-Aug-2014
1:51:14 PM
"Solosite" I never used it on my fingers but it did a great job helping the big cut on my leg heal properly.

As for flappers I tend to cover them in climb on and it seems to help the healing process.
lost tazmaniac
29-Aug-2014
2:01:27 PM
Try using Coban tape..it's beathable, waterproofe and self sealing.. not to mention cheap.. ($4.50 a roll) I found it after a consult with a handspecialist... because it is breathable your finger does nt go white and stinky over a day..After you've cleaned and sterilised .. this stuff works a treat..

EleNora
29-Aug-2014
3:25:53 PM
Good to know tazmaniac! I'll get some in my first aid kit.

All in all I should have guessed I was going to pass for the Queen of Sissies, not climbing on flappers... But hey, not everyone can always just tape and go on. Sometimes you can't be around with climbing tape on your hands for a week.
Well, plaster ain't sexier but at least you can change it.
Jayford4321
29-Aug-2014
3:29:58 PM
On 29/08/2014 lost tazmaniac wrote:
>Try using Coban tape..it's beathable, waterproofe and self sealing.. not
>to mention cheap.. ($4.50 a roll) I found it after a consult with a handspecialist...
>because it is breathable your finger does nt go white and stinky over a
>day..After you've cleaned and sterilised .. this stuff works a treat..

It is nowhere near as cheap and effective as pissing on your hands to not only harden callouses, but also heal flappers.
I find it hard to believe that such hard won knowledge becomes lost in the transition between generations.
If you doubt my word, then do some homework on Tom Patey, Don Whillans, Joe Brown, etc.

E. Wells
29-Aug-2014
8:46:34 PM
totally true gagonuts...though i am from a much younger generation than you assumedly....i did a brief stint of bike touring which would give me raynauds syndrome and leave my hands not only arthritic looking but covered in frustratingly itchy white spots and pissing on them was the only solution , luckily i didnt play a proffesional code of sport. i really enjoyed pissing on my hands, brings back warm feelings just reminiscing.


There are 8 messages in this topic.

 

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