Back story:
For those of you who don't know about my childish adventures, I decided one day that it would be a fantastic idea to ride my son's scooter down a hill at a campground. With no previous 'scooting' experience, this was not a good idea. It started off fine. Me riding the brake. Going insanely slow. Then my brother encouraged me to let off the brake. I did. I still was doing great. Then I figured out that I could carve the scooter. What fun!! I felt the wind blowing through my hair. It felt so freeing and fun. My downfall: Confidence. I crouched down to get a better carve. This seemingly harmless move shifted my center of balance. Most of my weight was now at the front of the scooter, allowing the back wheel to kick around. When I realized what was happening, I stood back up and the back wheel caught on the pavement perpendicular to my body. Whoops. In the split second that I had while I was taking flight to the pavement, I thought it would be in my best interest to put my arm in front of my head, since it was obvious to me that my head was going to be the first thing to hit the road. I don't know how far I skid down the pavement, but I know I slid for what seemed like an eternity. Now, I don't know how many campgrounds you've been to lately, but some of them aren't the cleanliest around. We were at one of those. My arm was ripped up pretty bad. It went down to the bone in a couple areas. My knees were all torn up and my hip also kissed the pavement. I cleaned them the best I could with the facilities I had.
Then there was the 15 hour drive home in a car that vibrated like crazy over 60MPH. I stopped off at a friend's house in Cincinnati 6 hours into the drive and she and her mother in law cleaned me up pretty good. We dipped my arm in Epsom Salts (OUCH!!) and lubed up all my wounds with Neosporin and plastered bandages all over me. Think 'mummy' here. (Okay, it wasn't that bad.) The next morning I continued my journey home. At this point my left knee was swollen huge. My right knee was pretty bruised, but I was able to use the gas and brake pedal. And my arm, well, my arm had very little feeling. This made me slightly nervous, I must admit.
I made it home. My husband gasped at me in horror as he saw me walk through the door. (He hadn't seen me in 2 weeks)
I continued the self-doctoring that I had started three days prior at the campground. [As a side note: I'm not the 'go to the doctor' type unless it's so bad I can't take it anymore. I have a very high pain tolerance.] So religiously I soaked my wounds in Epsom Salts, lathered them up with Neosporin & bandaged them up three times a day, everyday.
I did this for five days. My wounds were itchy, getting an infection and I was on the verge of going to the doctor. Then we went to small groups. Luckily for me, we have a nurse in our small group and she guided me in the right direction. This brings me to the title of my post.
The suggestion was to take a Vitamin E Liquid Gel and poke it with a pin. Then squeeze the liquid all over the wound and seal it up with a bandaid. I was a little skeptical at first about doing this because my body was reacting to the moist air being trapped in the bandaid as it was. I was breaking out with little itchy bumps all around my wounds and they were driving me crazy. I also believe I was becoming allergic to the Neosporin. Apparently it's not made to plaster all over large areas of your body. Ha! Plus, I'm allergic to adhesives. So bandaids, bandaging tape and like always leave red itchy marks on me.
Before I continue, let's review the timeline. Day 1: Tuesday night I injure myself and put Neosporin on. Day 2: Wednesday night I start with the Epsom Salts. Day 5: Sunday I talk to my nurse friend. Day 6: Monday morning my wounds have a greenish/yellowish look to them. And then Monday night I start the Vitamin E gel. Day 7: Tuesday morning, all my wounds are once again white in color and the "angry look" to them have significantly gone down. Day 9: Thursday (the day I am writing this) I think this is the last day that I will have a bandage on my right knee. My left knee will probably take another day or two. All the road rash part of my arm is healed - that's pretty much my whole arm from elbow to wrist, except for the part that was torn to the bone. But that is looking significantly better as well.
The Point:
The point I'm trying to make is: Vitamin E did more in one day than Neosporin did in six. I always knew that Vitamin E was good for the skin and I take it orally daily, but I would have never thought to put it on wounds. So if your child (or you) fall and scrape your knees, elbows or whatever, don't waste your money on Neosporin. Grab a bottle of Vitamin E liquid gels and saturate those wounds. Don't forget the bandaid (you want to keep it moist with the Vitamin E). From what I have heard and read, there will be little to no scarring if you do this until it is completely healed. I don't think the 'no scarring rule' pertains to an elbow that was ripped down to the bone though. =)
In answer to the question that may be bobbling around in your head...No, I will not ride the scooter again. Nor a motorcycle for that matter. Knowing what road rash feels like, I never want to go through it again. But I will continue skateboarding. I'll just make sure I wear my gear.
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