Suggest Treatment For An Open Wound On Shoulder After An Injury

Posted on Mon, 23 Jun 2014

Question: i fell from the stairs the other day and badly bruised my shoulder neck area,I cleaned up the wound which did not have much blood but a lot of inflammation by using cotton dipped in hot water.
Then after about 6 hrs I put ice on it and then cleaned the would with non-fruit based vinegar and after that applied warm cloth therapy over it.
It was getting too dry so I have been using Vaseline lotion on it. I have asked someone to get me Soframycine so that it can heal faster and not leave any marks. Please suggest how to cure it faster and avoid scars?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (7 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Oral antibiotics+topical antibiotics

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic

I have gone through your query and I have understood it.

The best way to approach an open wound is to start on an empirical oral antibiotic for a week OR 10 days (My choice of oral antibiotic would have been Amoxycillin 500mg in combination with clavulanic acid 125 mg, thrice daily, for a week OR Cephalexin 500mg thrice daily OR Cefadroxil 500mg twice daily, for a week). This would prevent secondary bacterial infection of the wound.

An OTC antibacterial cream/ointment e.g 2% mupirocin can be applied twice daily to the wound

An OTC pain killer e.g ibuprofen once or twice daily would help you deal with the pain.

regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Kakkar (44 hours later)

I have started the medication, wanted to know whether I should keep applying the heating pad on it to fasten the healing process? If yes should it be with the ointment on or before I apply the ointment.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (7 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Oral antiinflammatory

Detailed Answer:
Hi.

Heating pad is not required.

Rather, if you have pain, which might be due to muscle injury resulting from fall, you can take an OTC pain killer e.g ibuprofen once or twice daily, which would help you deal with the pain.

Regards
Wish you a quick recovery!!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Kakkar (2 days later)

There is almost no pain since I didn't get a cut just sever bruise. It's just when I touch it or a cloth touches it I feel a slight inflammatory irritation, like when you touch a burnt wound.
The bruise dried up and the flakes are off now. Should I still keep taking Amoxycillin 500mg in combination with clavulanic acid 125 mg and keep putting antibacterial cream/ointment e.g 2% mupirocin?
The area gets a little tight/dry when no ointment is applied.
I also wanted to ask whether I should start using mederma to avoid any scaring after a week of the current treatment, just to avoid any sort of scaring?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Contractubex gel

Detailed Answer:
Hi.

Oral Antibiotics can be stopped after 7 days. Can continue Mupirocin for another 3-5 days.

Thereafter, you can apply Contractubex Gel instead of Mederma

Regards

Note: For further follow-up it is advisable to consult an emergency medicine specialist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj