I have a full thickness burn which is relatively large and in an annoying area, near my elbow. Im using mepilex border dressings on it, however, they keep coming off due to the area and movement. Would it be ok to put a tubi grip over it? or would the pressure be too much for the burn and suffocate it.... Its still at the early stages of healing and im worried about the plasters constantly pealing off because i dont want it getting infected and its oozing a fair bit, although i might be noticing it more because im not changing it everyday. I've tried using mepore tape? but thats not really helping. Sorry if this seems a daft question, im just worried because of the area and depth of the burn.
is there anything else i could use to keep the dressing in place?
Thanks
Last edited by Animad : 11-08-2011 at 09:51 PM.
Reason: Removed location and some info on tissue seen
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
It would probably be hard for anything to stay in place due to the place where the burn is and the use of the joint. Your best bet is probably getting the nurse at your doctors surgery to look at it and dress it, they might have something a bit better to hold it in place. x x
I'm getting annoyed as the dressing keeps coming off, especially at night. Will make an appointment with the nurse again as soon as i can. So tempted to buy a tubi grip but not sure if i should..........
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
Don't take the dressing off. These also need to be changed more often, really we're looking at at least twice a day with that kind of dressing at the moment.
Due to the size, depth and location of this burn it needs to be checked out and ASAP. If it's not it is more likely to become infected, it's not likely to heal as well or as fast, if it's weeping heavily it could lead to you becoming dehydrated and also, in the long term, the scar tissue could reduce the movement of the elbow and cause other problems around there which could have a big effect.
I'd say not to use a tubigrip as that will put more pressure on the area (as well as reducing the amount the wound can 'breathe') which may cause it to rub on the dressing below or move this throughout the day especially given the location, and as well as this, it may worsen any scar tissue you are left with (as well as pressure from bandages themselves can cause more sores to develop).
Thank you animad for the response, i was worried about tubigrips not letting it breath.
I am afraid my practice nurse has become desenstized to my wounds. I know it needs a skin graft but the last burn was grafted and i am too scared to go to the burns unit again.
I am pretty scared about it healing as i can already feel the stiffness when i move it. I have been to the nurse and she prescribed me the mepilxe border dressings and asked if i wanted to use manuka honey on it. I think i will go back to her and ask her what i can use to make the dressings not come up although i wont be able to see her until next week and its been a few weeks since i saw her.
its ozing? (sp) yellowy gunk and causign a rash on the inside of my arm due to the dressing coming off and it leaking. i cant cope with 3 months + of this crap =[
is there anything that will make it heal faster?
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
The Mannuka honey would definitely help to make it heal quicker and better especially as the nurse has said it's fine to use that, and that also has anti-infective/ antibiotic properties so it is worth a try. As the discharge is sounding from that post that it is quite thick then really dressings for burns that you would be able to use to lessen the scarring and increase the rate of healing are not the best idea as some of these can cause infections to worsen if one is present and that sort of discharge does make me think of infection so I would get it checked again. One which you could use under normal other dressings is known as Jelonet which basically creates a scaffold for skin (and others that come in to help healing) cells to attach to and so aid it healing. Because of all the discharge you could also use a dressing called Allevyn. This is VERY absorbative and you can get ones that with adhesive edges but to be honest, getting any dressing to stay in place in that location will be a difficult one and the best thing would get a nurse to properly dress and bandage it and really, this may also help (if the bandage is thick and the elbow is bandaged so it can't bend too much) to reduce the amount the scar tissue that may affect the range of movement in that joint later on.
Really I would strongly urge you to seek professional advice to help you stop or at least reduce the amount and/ or severity of your burns as if you've got this and beforehand you've alreay had at least one grafted (and grafts often don't work too well) then you are causing really severe damage to yourself and the reasons behind this should really be addressed if possible.
I'm surprised your practice nurse hasn't referred you to a burns unit with a burn that's so bad. With mine, I go to A+E who refer me directly to my local burns unit. I had grafts previously but now I don't want any more unless it's life or death as the last operation was so traumatic, so I go to the burns outpatients clinic every 2 weeks where they check the dressings and give me some to take home to do myself in between appointmnets. They have access to specialist dressings that a GP surgery may not have, plus more expertise.
I was worried they'd be judgemental as I have burnt myslef so many times in the past few months, but they are ok and give me good medical care. I just wondered if it would be an option for you? At least then you'd get the best possible care and the wound may heal better.
They may also be able to refer you for help with scarring as I have found large areas of scar tissue over joints can affect mobility and there are things they can do about it. ~
I really hope it gets better and that you get the help you need.
I feel sad to say this, but my practice nurse has been desensitized to the damage I cause myself. I know this needs to be looked after by the burns unit but I don't like it there =[ I know I know, I should go and I know this burn needs grafting but I've three already and I just feel they are going to get pissed of me turning up there, i don't want another graft and well i guess this burn is worrying me this time due to the area.. Secret squirrel, which hospital is the burns unit in that you go to?
I might pop down to minor injuries tomorrow for them to dress it properly and then make an appointment to see the nurse to get some manuka honey. I have some in my drawer but its been open for a while.
Maybe i should go back to using flamazine cream for a while? Whenever I have burns i see the nurse once to get a load of dressings, then get the hostel to fax the surgery for repeat prescriptions. I guess im not looking after them properly.
Ive used jelonet before but I dont have any here. I'm in therapy and seeing professionals, there aim is to help me lessen the severeity/frequency of my self harm.
Thanks guys.
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
Grafts can only be done in a specific time frame when the wound is looking a specific way and often I imagin they'd be reluctant to keep doing them on people because it's not just like suturing a cut, there are a lot of protential problems and downfalls and many breakdown and need re-doing or make a previous problem worse. As well as that, it's area alone makes potential problems more likely to occur. However, you should still get this looked at. You could go to a local Minor Injuries Unit or even an NHS Walk-In Centre. Living in London there will be plenty of them and they will be able to look at it and dress it properly. Plus, if they do want you to go to a burns unit you can still ask not to have a graft if they offer you one and they will just help you to care for it better as some burns need much more in depth care than a cut which can be stitched up (if needed) and then will hopefully heal fine.
You can buy manuka honey from most pharmacies. It's not a prescription drug. Flamazine however is a prescription only drug. It is great on burns though.
And even if there ethos is to lessen the extent, you've still don it so they should accept that. You can also buy Jelonet in a pharmacy though really this DOES need to be looked into. It's not just a small wound that you can deal with on your own. It's one that's likely to lead to a lot of problems.
I'm so sorry that the practice nurse seems desensitised. I see you're in London; me too. I go to Chelsea and Westminster which is main centre for burn care in London, I think. They can give continuing care for burns, even if you don't have the grafts. That is the situation I'm in. I have had some grafts in the past but would rather not have them again, and the surgeons agree.
At the moment they are treating them with Flamazine, with gauze on top for absorbency, and a kind of stocking like tube on top to keep it in place. Other dressings have been used in the past, depending on what's needed. I do my own dressings between appointments and they try to keep it simple. Some of the dressings and ointments they have used are not available elsewhere, so really they can give better specialist care for serious burns.
Really it's worth getting some kind of help for caring for the burn and maybe the minor injuries unit will be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck. x
Oh, I go to cheslea and westminster too, or well I have done in the past. I keep thinking you are one of the ladies who was there when i last had a skin graft (there were two other self harmers in the ladies ward when I was there) The surgeons don't really want me having skin grafts and I agree, it would be too much. The last one I had I think was because there had been such a big gap between me going there (although I was looking after the burns myself between that time)
I have 4 tubes of flamazin cream here but I have no gauze or tape. Im going to have to go back to the practice nurse. I will go to the burns unit, but only if it gets infected. I feel like the nurses there get pissed of with me.
Thanks for the continuing support x
sticks and stones may break your bones but words can tear your heart out.
Really, I would advice you to go to the burns unit BEFORE it gets infected. Also, by the sounds of the discharge that may already be the case to some extent and if you wait until it's infected or it gets really badly so then it's going to take MUCH longer, you're putting yourself at more risk and there is less they can do as there are less types of dressings and ointments/ gels/ creams that they can use. I'd advise you to go there sooner rather than later.
Just getting Flamazine isn't the solution. Depending how deep it is it may not be the best one for you and even then it depends on the type. Because of where it is you need to have as much specialist care as possible which means using the right creams for the job, just getting one because it's the main one that's used by the GPs is not the same as using one because a specialist burns unit has decided that at this stage with this set of dressings you are better with y. You really need this sort of care as amongst other things this is a really deep burn that has damaged the whole of your skin and potentially also some of the area below there which automatically means some bits may not heal well at all especially if you don't get it properly checked out. As well as that, due to where it is, if it ends up that parts don't heal well, even if this is just the skin, then it will worsen the scarring a lot and that may have a huge effect to the movement of the elbow.
I am no way saying I think you should have a graft, I don't by any means think that skin grafts are the answer to everything such as this and am not saying you should go to the brns unit to see about getting a graft but I strongly think you ned the specialist and well designed, personal treatment plan for your particular burn that only a burns specialist can really give, we definitely can't pver the net and neither can a nurse, especially one who is unwilling to help with your wounds (which may simply be because (s)he feels like (s)he's out of their depth and doesn't want to cause more harm and doesn't have the specialist training and resources needed to properly help you).
