[shurt]

I took a chunk out of the pad of my index finger with a screwdriver on Saturday which really wound me up and one of the first thoughts I had was 'well thats no climbing for a week or two'. The injury was almost identical to a pretty bad flapper that you get from sharp holds and pebbles. I reckon its about the size of a small pumpkin seed (sorry cant think of anything else).

Normally I would pull the flap of skin off and wait for it to grow back but my partner Michelle (who has worked in a burns unit in the past) suggested trying to reattach it as it was still attached on one side. After a good wash, we used this stuff called Jelonet applied in triple thickness under a dressing. The important thing apparently is for the Jelonet not to dry out.

Its Monday night and whilst I'm not 100% I could climb on it (might try that on Thursday night) the flapper is completely reattached having redressed the finger a few times in the last 48 hrs and taken it off for good this afternoon. All in all I'm pretty amazed and thought if other people had a similar injury they might want to try this.

Just to be clear I am nothing to do with Jelonet and only had it by chance as we'd heard it was good to heal sore nipples from breastfeeding! You have to order it from a chemist although larger ones may stock it.

[psychomansam]

Sounds fancy. There must be other similiar stuff out there with all the hi-tech wound dressings these days. But are they better than superglue, which not only holds it in place, but also adds a protective layer? I guess the answer is it allows the wound to breathe and promotes better healing... maybe superglue on top and you could climb tomorrow?

[tomtom]

That sounds good - but how many flappers are 'clean' injuries - or how many get chalk etc.. behind them, which I suspect would stop this stuff working...? I dunno, maybe I'm being too sceptical. Interesting though...

[shurt]

I've always been a bit reticent about super glue as I thought it had arsenic in it? This was quite a deep cut so not sure if super gluing round the edges would have worked.

Re: clean injuries. I think with all cuts you have to clean them well before doing anything. I also made sure I pressed the wound back together quite firmly. I'm not suggesting you take this stuff to the crag though! 

I'll let you know how it goes at the wall. For all i know I'll grab hold of a jug and start pissing blood everywhere after 5mins and my flapper breakthrough will be a laughing stock. Don't go ordering that Jelonet just yet.

[moose]

So far as I know, standard superglue doesn't contain any arsenic, but it can irritate the wound - degradation products and impurities - leading to infection.  The medical stuff is a different cyanoacrylate that degrades far more slowly and doesn't irritate. 

When I worked in a lab, I thought I might be able to sneak a tube onto an order from a bioscience supplies catalogue but it cost a fortune - at least £30 for a tiny vial - and could have been noticed (incidentally the catalogue had the most harrowing chapters in a mail order catalogue I have ever seen: pages of immobiliser tables for operating on animals and of decapitators).

[shark]

Got some good advice at Easter in Font to deal with a flapper which was to cover the pad in a single layer of strapell tape or similar with the underside and edges smothered in superglue overlapping at the back on the nail.

Worked a treat and came off surprisingly easily at the end of the day.

[TobyD]

(incidentally the catalogue had the most harrowing chapters in a mail order catalogue I have ever seen: pages of immobiliser tables for operating on animals and of decapitators).

 
I'm not sure you should admit to this sort of bed-time reading, Moose.