Hey all. I'm a new grad RN who has not practiced yet and is instead backpacking through southeast asia for a few months before I begin working. I recently had a spill on a motorbike in Malaysia (I'm ok...no structural damage, just some bad scrapes) and need some advice on taking care of my wounds on the road. My question is regarding whether I should let my wounds dry so that they scab over which hopefully provides a protective barrier against infection or not. I am not concerned with scarring at all. I mostly have abrasians on my hands, R knee, and R shin. Dressing the wounds every day is pretty expensive and cumbersome over here especially because there are a lot of small abrasions scattered around. There are a few that are a bit deeper than the rest but even they scab over pretty well if I let them dry. I dressed them and applied antiseptic for the first 3 days but then ran out of my supplies (which broke the budget quite a bit) and am now wondering if letting them dry and take longer to heal may be a more convenient way for protect them from infection and continue to move around. I figured I could shower and wash them at night which would moisten them up and remove some of the dry pus and then let them dry out again while I sleep/throughout the morning. Any advice would be great. I didn't get a whole lot of experience with wounds in school and certainly didn't receive much training on dealing with them outside of the hospital while backpacking in foreign countries which can be rather dirty. Thanks in advance.

Mike

It's hard for me to say going on your description and not seeing picture. If you got pus, you got infection. What are you putting on it? There is a point where you do need to let things dry out and scab over. I don't know where you are buying medical supplies but I've been to malaysia and they are about as cheap as thailand. I'd do a bit of some sort of antibiotic ointment covered with light gauze on the deeper ones during the day. Gauze will allow air to get to the wound but still keep it protected. Then remove the dressing at night after showering for the night. Once they form a decent scab, it should be good to leave open to air but I would still clean with peroxide a couple times a day. I live in thailand and I've seen seemingly small scrapes go bad. Infection in southeast asia is a much greater risk than western countries due to less sanitary conditions.

Well, you should never pull off a scab or disrupt the scabbing process. But you should also gently wash the areas and apply antiseptic twice a day, more often if there has been obvious exposure to dirt.

You can buy small bottles of betadine anywhere un Thailand, even at 7 elevens.

If it were me, from your description of the wounds, I'd just apply betadine and let air dry. If any are open (no scab and more than a light abrasion) then cover with band aid otherwise leave be.

If any sign of swelling, worsening inflammation surrounding a wound or pus, see a doctor.