Swiiming In Ocean Off Samui With Open Wound

[careless]

I have a rather large scrape on my knee from a bike accident. I have been cleaning it with peroxide and applying anti-biotics. I am getting conflicting advice as to whether it's safe to swim in the ocean.

Any advise maybe with some backup reference would be appreciated.

thanks

[stoneyboy]

I am from Great Yarmouth in the UK which is a seaside town on the east coast (North Sea).

As a child I swam in the sea every year in the summer time and people still do to this day,that was back in the day when raw sewerage was released straight into the harbours mouth,as a kid I was full of lumps bumps and scrapes which after swimming were always very well cleaned and healed by the salt water.

I would have no hesitation in swimming here with such a wound,I would personally expect it to help heal the wound,that said I'm no doctor,but I'm still alive after swimming in the North Sea all those years.

[Sheryl]

The waters off Samui are pretty clean and as long as what you refer to is a scrape as opposed to a deep wound, I expect the salt water would if anything have a positive effect.

[cornishcarlos]

Swimming is fine.

The problem comes from not drying wounds properly.

Any bacteria will thrive in these tropical conditions.

So just make sure to air the wound until dry after swimming, use some antibacterial solution like Betadine and keep it clean once dry.

Enjoy your swim

[webworldly]

Hello

I am a long time beneficiary of Sheryl's prolific and consistently helpful health advice, and I'm in no way doubting what she said here. Rather, I'm just going to offer a different perspective.

Since the OP (careless) didn't specify how far out from the coast he'd be swimming, or the extent of / current status of his wound.....perhaps he should he be concerned about the improbable but not implausible possibility of a shark encounter. I am a former (waaaay former) open water long distance swimmer.....so from my very narrow, non-health science perspective......sharks were the first and only possible danger that came to my mind when I heard "open wound" and "ocean swimming" in the same sentence.

To be clear.....I never swam off the coast of Thailand, and am completely ignorant as to the specifics regarding shark risk in these waters. So, having raised the question, I will defer to Sheryl and other locals from ThaiVisa. If they say "no worries"....then I'd be out there having fun and swimming like a "careless" (ha!) fish.

CHEERS!

D

[PoorSucker]

No problems, just don't swim when it's red flagged.

Calm waters today, check here.

http://www.samuiwebcam.com/#