While reviewing a thread about the value of gloves, I noticed one post that referred to the length of time that it takes for small cuts to heal on your hands.
I have a solution: it is unusual, easy, and it works every time. The doctors don't know about it, and they can't advise you, 'cause they don't understand the problem and they weren't taught this in medical school.
Since this is an unorthodox cure, those of you who are inclined to scoff at new ideas, please stop reading now. It will simplify this thread.
Here is the problem:
You bark a knuckle, or you nick your skin in some minor fashion. Oops...keep working. It may not even bleed, or it might be a real injury that needs a band-aid or more. Happens all the time, you just ignore them.
The next day: no bleeding, nice little scab...no problem yet.
A week later, the scab has thickened considerably, and you keep bumping it. Maybe it has started to itch around the edges where it is healing.
Now we have a problem: the damn thing has become sore, with raised red skin around it. Anytime you bump it, it hurts, and your leathery skin just doesn't heal right! It may get an infection under the scab, which you pick off, but now there is a deep pocket under the scab that is much deeper than the original injury. Every time you pick the scab, the hole is deeper, but the size is a little smaller.
Slowly, over several weeks, the small injury heals by getting a bit smaller every time you pick the scab. Eventually the scab lifts off, leaving a pink tender spot that quickly toughens up.
Here is the CAUSE of the slow healing:
There is a well known phenomenon in medicine called "pressure necrosis". Some of you are quite familiar with this effect when you castrate pigs with a small rubber band. Weeks later, the offending parts fall off. You may recall seeing photographs of people with stretched ear piercings, or other modified body parts because of ornamental attachments. This is the same effect, just a different aspect of the same phenomenon.
The healing process to skin injuries involves growing a scab, which hardens and seals the injury. Unfortunately, this scab also serves as an irritant by exerting direct physical pressure against tender tissues that were never designed to have hard tissues constantly in contact with them. When the scab gets thicker by natural processes, it causes the tender tissues underneath to recede away from the hard surface of the scab. Every time you bump it, you make it worse, and then inflammation is caused by all the cells beneath the scab rupturing and releasing various chemicals that cause inflammation. Cytokines, histamines,...the list goes on.
You may get an infection, that only makes it worse.
Here is the cure:
Relieve the pressure on the tissue beneath the scab!
This is REAL EASY, and it does NOT hurt!
Get the little 6" flat file you use to knock down the height of your depth gauges on your chainsaws. A round file can be used too, but it is not as effective, and it is more irritating to your skin.
GENTLY file the top of the scab down until it is thin enough to be flexible. Your file needs to be a new one that is extra sharp, so as to require very little pressure. This will file the scab down, but won't irritate the uninjured skin right next to it. Oregon flat files have smooth edges, and work particularly well for this.
Do this every day, as needed, to keep the injury flexible and soft. If the scab hurts when you bump it on something: file it down some more. Just consider it preventive maintenance, you can even do it every time you sharpen the chainsaw. Just a couple of strokes.
It is very helpful if you can keep a band-aid on it to keep out dirt and to increase the humidity near the injury. The skin needs to grow into the injured area; that doesn't work too well if you make it work in a desert environment. Protect it with a band-aid or gloves.
For really bad scabs that have been neglected in the beginning: take an exacto knife or a sharp point of some sort and cut the top/center out of the scab. There should be no injury whatsoever to the healing skin at the edges or bottom of the scab. Your only goal is to make the scab thinner, not to remove it.
10 days later: no cut, no scab, no problems. No raised red bumps on your knuckles that hurt every time you bend your hands or knock it against a branch.
I have done this for a bunch of my guys over the years. It always works when there is no infection or other bigger problem. This will also fix those nasty knee scrapes your kids keep getting, too!
I have a solution: it is unusual, easy, and it works every time. The doctors don't know about it, and they can't advise you, 'cause they don't understand the problem and they weren't taught this in medical school.
Since this is an unorthodox cure, those of you who are inclined to scoff at new ideas, please stop reading now. It will simplify this thread.
Here is the problem:
You bark a knuckle, or you nick your skin in some minor fashion. Oops...keep working. It may not even bleed, or it might be a real injury that needs a band-aid or more. Happens all the time, you just ignore them.
The next day: no bleeding, nice little scab...no problem yet.
A week later, the scab has thickened considerably, and you keep bumping it. Maybe it has started to itch around the edges where it is healing.
Now we have a problem: the damn thing has become sore, with raised red skin around it. Anytime you bump it, it hurts, and your leathery skin just doesn't heal right! It may get an infection under the scab, which you pick off, but now there is a deep pocket under the scab that is much deeper than the original injury. Every time you pick the scab, the hole is deeper, but the size is a little smaller.
Slowly, over several weeks, the small injury heals by getting a bit smaller every time you pick the scab. Eventually the scab lifts off, leaving a pink tender spot that quickly toughens up.
Here is the CAUSE of the slow healing:
There is a well known phenomenon in medicine called "pressure necrosis". Some of you are quite familiar with this effect when you castrate pigs with a small rubber band. Weeks later, the offending parts fall off. You may recall seeing photographs of people with stretched ear piercings, or other modified body parts because of ornamental attachments. This is the same effect, just a different aspect of the same phenomenon.
The healing process to skin injuries involves growing a scab, which hardens and seals the injury. Unfortunately, this scab also serves as an irritant by exerting direct physical pressure against tender tissues that were never designed to have hard tissues constantly in contact with them. When the scab gets thicker by natural processes, it causes the tender tissues underneath to recede away from the hard surface of the scab. Every time you bump it, you make it worse, and then inflammation is caused by all the cells beneath the scab rupturing and releasing various chemicals that cause inflammation. Cytokines, histamines,...the list goes on.
You may get an infection, that only makes it worse.
Here is the cure:
Relieve the pressure on the tissue beneath the scab!
This is REAL EASY, and it does NOT hurt!
Get the little 6" flat file you use to knock down the height of your depth gauges on your chainsaws. A round file can be used too, but it is not as effective, and it is more irritating to your skin.
GENTLY file the top of the scab down until it is thin enough to be flexible. Your file needs to be a new one that is extra sharp, so as to require very little pressure. This will file the scab down, but won't irritate the uninjured skin right next to it. Oregon flat files have smooth edges, and work particularly well for this.
Do this every day, as needed, to keep the injury flexible and soft. If the scab hurts when you bump it on something: file it down some more. Just consider it preventive maintenance, you can even do it every time you sharpen the chainsaw. Just a couple of strokes.
It is very helpful if you can keep a band-aid on it to keep out dirt and to increase the humidity near the injury. The skin needs to grow into the injured area; that doesn't work too well if you make it work in a desert environment. Protect it with a band-aid or gloves.
For really bad scabs that have been neglected in the beginning: take an exacto knife or a sharp point of some sort and cut the top/center out of the scab. There should be no injury whatsoever to the healing skin at the edges or bottom of the scab. Your only goal is to make the scab thinner, not to remove it.
10 days later: no cut, no scab, no problems. No raised red bumps on your knuckles that hurt every time you bend your hands or knock it against a branch.
I have done this for a bunch of my guys over the years. It always works when there is no infection or other bigger problem. This will also fix those nasty knee scrapes your kids keep getting, too!
