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Road rash on face

by danfitzjohn
Thu, Jan 23, 2020 02:16
9

Hi all

 

not a great subject however I'm now on day 5 after coming off on black ice and having some fairly nasty road rash on my face as well as two sets of stitches.

the pain went fairly quickly and much quicker than say elbows or knees however I have a huge ugly deep red scab on my face and am looking for some advice 

should I continue to apply Vaseline to the scab to maintain moisture? I've been doing this every other day ?  The scab is really very itchy, any tips for dealing with this as it's keeping me awake at night! 
any tips for preventing scars ?  Any tips for covering it up and getting on with life ? (I'm working from home at the moment due to the horrific look of this!)

 

would be good to hear from anyone that's actually had rr on their face as it's a very different experience to having it on other parts of your body!

 

thanks in advance 

 

 

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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9 comments

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Spokesperson | 5 years ago
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Boots sell two great products for exactly this (well not precisely for skidding along on your face).... They have a wound healing gel and a scar reduction cream. I have used them quite a lot for blisters from rowing, and a long facial scar, and they do work.

Please don't put vaseline on your wounds, as it may damage the skin cells and is not antiseptic. Every time you stick your finger in the pot.. well just no!

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Spangly Shiny | 5 years ago
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https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/itchy-skin/

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srchar | 5 years ago
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When the stitches come out, continue to keep your cuts pulled closed using steri-strips. My daughter recently cut her face; when the stitches came out, there was a faint line. However, this widened over several weeks and is now quite noticeable. I didn't know this was possible and wish we'd steri-stripped it now.

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kil0ran | 5 years ago
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If its road rash on the face (no stitches) then it probably won't scar. Remember that lovely pink gravel stuff they used to chipseal roads with in the 80s? I scraped the whole left side of my face off on that as a kid. Massive scab from hairline to jawline, no lasting damage or scarring.

30 years on and I degloved my right index finger from the knuckle backwards on a Garmin out-front that broke in a crash. All I've got from that is a very faint hairline scar that only shows up in summer because it contrasts against the tanned skin. That was 5 or 6 stitches. Top tip - don't have a helmet debate with the sadist putting the stitches in, it's neither the time nor the place.

Another vote for Bio-Oil here and there is also some evidence that Serrapeptase can help

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danfitzjohn replied to kil0ran | 5 years ago
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Thanks - I'm currently applying Vaseline to keep everything soft so the stitches will come out - after that I'll go down the bio-oil route 

in the meantime it itches unbelievably - especially about 3am!

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kil0ran replied to danfitzjohn | 5 years ago
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If you're a bloke there's always the beard option.

Although shaving with a facial injury is a whole different level of annoyance I'd imagine.

Scar formation and healing time is a function of blood supply so keeping the area warm is a good idea. And once the stitches are out make sure you protect the skin from wind/cold

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ktache | 5 years ago
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When I cut the end of my finger off I discovered that Boots do a range of scar reduction stuff.  It is out there.  Marvellous recent advances.

 

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kt26 | 5 years ago
1 like

I can't speak from personal experience because when I got road rash on my face I didn't do anything and now I have a barely noticable (unless your me) scar under my left eye.

However, my wife had a double mastectomy. The advice from the doctors was to use bio-oil to help heal the scaring - and over the years it has improved. I have also heard that bathing in salt water can be very good, but no personal experience unfortunately.

 

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Mungecrundle | 5 years ago
1 like

Keep the area moisturised and whatever you do, don't pick at it. When the scabs do disappear make sure to protect the new skin underneath with a high factor sun cream.

Or just hide yourself away from society and wear a mask.

(Placeholder for humorous picture of the Phantom of the Opera, but the IT gremlins appear to have buggered up / changed the website and I cannot see how to add pictures any more)

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