{"id":19,"date":"2010-06-02T10:32:28","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T10:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/?p=19"},"modified":"2010-11-29T02:04:41","modified_gmt":"2010-11-29T02:04:41","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/19\/welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Gravel rash and hydrocolloids ‘step-by-step.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gravel rash\u2026adults and kids get it \u2014 falling off a bike or skateboard- sustaining nasty grazes.\u00a0OUCH!!! <\/strong>What looks like such a superficial wound can be absolute agony for days.<\/p>\n

Critical to pain reduction in the management of these wounds is knowing what wound dressing will give the best results, as well as being the most cost-effective, BUT <\/em>how often does some well-meaning person \u2018paint\u2019 the bleeding graze with a coloured antiseptic solution and cover it with dry gauze \u2013 and how painful it is to remove!! The gauze hardens and it can take many hours of soaking and gentle pulling \u2013amidst tears, squeals and fresh bleeding, to remove it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how you can make it easier for yourself and your patients<\/strong> with a cost effective, secure, dressing that is like a second skin\u2019 and\u00a0will not stick to the wound surface?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step by Step<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. wash the grazed area \u2013under the shower is fine if your water is clean \u2013 picking out as much gravel and dirt as you can.<\/li>\n
  2. pat the grazed area dry, especially the surrounding skin.<\/li>\n
  3. apply a\u00a0hydrocolloid dressing<\/strong> over the graze with a large margin around the edges of the wound.<\/li>\n
  4. if the graze is over a joint, i.e. the knee, you can use two or more pieces, overlapped and\/or make sure the joint is slightly bent.<\/li>\n
  5. press gently all around the margins of the\u00a0hydrocolloid<\/strong> for a few minutes \u2013 the warmth of your hands will aid the adhesive process.<\/li>\n
  6. you will notice that there is immediate pain relief. This is because you have just covered all the nerve endings in the dermis.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When should the hydrocolloid dressing be changed?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u2018A week or a leak\u2019 is good to remember.<\/strong> The hydrocolloid dressing can stay in place for a week but you will often find that the exudate (leakage that looks like pus & may have an odour) starts to leak out before this time. Don\u2019t be alarmed. It is unlikely to be pus.<\/strong> This exudate is quite normal. You will see bits of gravel in the jelly like exudate. Repeat steps 1-6 again until the exudate has ceased and there is new pink epithelial tissue. Most grazes will heal within 3 weeks or so. If there is increasing pain, fever, offensive smelling pus consult your doctor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Gravel rash\u2026adults and kids get it \u2014 falling off a bike or skateboard- sustaining nasty grazes.\u00a0OUCH!!! What looks like such a superficial wound can be absolute agony for days. Critical to pain reduction in the management of these wounds is knowing what wound dressing will give the best results, as well as being the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wound-management-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewoundcentre.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}