Update on my String Ray Injury...

If you are a follower here you know I was stung by a sting ray a little more than 9 weeks ago. I think I am well. Here's a photo of my foot and for the first time since the sting happened there is no sign of drainage. 

The dressing you see is a fexzan foam dressing. It's peeling up a bit but that's because I have had it on for 24 hours. In the past weeks I have sometimes kept the dressing on for 3-5 days as long as it remained intact. The hole it covered was about the depth and width of a cotton q-tip head and that's in all directions. It was a pretty fluffy and wide q-tip. The wound is basically all filled in from the bottom of the wound bed with only a slight indentation in the outer layer of skin which might grow back thick enough to leave no scar. 

Flexzan is a dressing described on their web sight as "sterile, ultra-thin, highly conformable, semi-occlusive polyurethane foam adhesive dressing that protects wounds from exogenous contamination and trauma while maintaining a moist wound healing environment.

Flexzan® is constructed of an open cell foam with a closed cell outer surface. Excess wound moisture is absorbed into the cells of the foam and allowed to evaporate through the outer surface, helping prevent fluid accumulation under the dressing.

Flexzan® should not be used on third degree burns or on wounds showing clinical signs of infection."

I used no medicine of any kind on this wound other than the standard antibiotics for a string ray sting. The flexzan lets the wound environment stay optimal so the body heals it's self. You can buy this stuff on the internet but I don't recommend you try this at home. It's not a one size fits all treatment and may not be as suitable for your wound as it was for mine. The main tenet of wound care is if what you do don't work, something else is needed. I do recommend you go to your doctor for help as wounds are complex and don't always heal and if I needed hospitalization I'd  go to Woodland Heights Medical Center. When I worked there I had some great mentors that perform the wound care for that facility and the things they taught me have been invaluable. 

Some one called my wife this week and asked how my foot was. She told them "It's fine, he's already on to the next thing," meaning crashing into a deer as I did last Saturday night. It's heck getting old and not getting out of the way as fast as you used to when danger presents.