A thousand cuts- healing help?

[Sregorb]

OK

"I can tell Brian has been working on his truck again" is being mumbled around here again. Anyone looking at my hands, with their thousands of little cuts, nicks, scrapes, scratches, skinnings, bare knuckles, slivers, etc can see I've been tearing into the darkest recesses of the truck's mechanic's. OK, OK, I'm exaggerating it's not thousands..... maybe just hundreds. I can't count that high anyway.



Here's the question, what do mechanic's use to "heal-up" after a particularly tough project? Just let it 'toughen up'? or smear bactine/neosporin/etc over the area? How about soreness/arthritis? What have other's in the "been there done that" category found?



I know, I know, the best is to not nick them up in the first place!but for a wrench-challenged like me that's not an option it appears.



Brian

 

[Champane Flight]

Use

I have gotten used to mechanics gloves. If I have to do something requiring superior dexterity, I put on a liberal amount of hand lotion and always wash the engine/parts I am about to work on. Really, take your time, always use the correct tool for the job, and think out your moves. Get used to gloves, I have, I wouldn't tackle a heavy job without them. They are expensive, but worth the saving of pain.

 

[Leon R]

What I use to help heal those annoying little cuts and those dry skin cracks around your fingernails is Loctite super bonder instant adhesive. Make sure the cuts are clean and dry and just glue them shut. It seals them over nicely and they heal in a day or so. Apparently its the same stuff they use in hospitals for a type of stitchless repair.

 

[LSMITH]

My hands take a pounding in lots worse environments than most mechanics see. If you don't want to get skinned up 90% is not getting in a hurry and the other 10% is just letting them toughen up. Get in a hurry = guaranteed bleeding. I only put stuff on them if the cuts and nicks are getting infected, vetrinary purple iodine is THE BEST but boy howdy does it burn LOL. Neosporin is good too.



If you need a lot of dexterity the doctors type latex gloves will save you from lots of nicks and cuts while keeping the dexterity. For more coarse jobs the mechanix gloves work well. Most stuff though you just need to buckle down and get those nicks and cuts and bruises, you get used to it and then it is all in a days work.

 

[Sregorb]

Well I'm set for a pair of mechanic's gloves, I just didn't think it bad enough to use them until I used the orange goo to clean my hands after the project was done and saw what was under the not-so-protective layer of grime. It went something like this while washing up, "la de dah, hmm. hards seem sore... . OWEE... (rinse) holy cow! No wonder! Look at all of those!" hehe.



I regularly use the latex gloves for oil changes which I agree works great and adds grip!



Leon- I think band-aid heard you and others. They've come out with an 'invisible band-aid' which appears to be the same kinda stuff. I'll definatly be trying that stuff in the future... .



And no matter how slow, or careful I am I always seem to get bit somewhere along the way it seems. Must be that end-of-project excitement..... Oo.



Brian

 

[Sregorb]

This may just be a matter of toughing up and dealing with it in the long run... . If I could just remove the soreness I wouldn't mind it or think twice about it, except when typing like this, holding silverware, etc. but the very thought of putting mineral ice, or bengay or icyhot on open wounds does seem to raise the question of "worth it?" on my pain threshold.



Still in search of a holy grail.....



Brian

 

[rckwlkr]

what to use

my hands see alot of abuse from detailing cars, trucks etc. everyday I use triple antibiotic on big cracks. Gloves in a bottle lotion (blue bottle). and Zims crack creme you spray it on, helps when they are so bad it hurts too much to rub it in.

my 2 cents

 

[QRTRHRS]

My hands are pretty toughened up but I know what Brian's post is saying. Every now and then you get into something that really tears them up. I just put antibiotic cream and bandaids on the worst and hand cream after that.



My big problem comes in the winter. I spend a good deal of time outside with gloves on and my hands dry out and crack. If they get to bad, I load up my hands with pure lanolin and wear goatskin gloves to bed. That and keeping hand cream all over and trying to use it helps.

 

[TPCDrafting]

For soreness and arthritis my horse shoer wears copper bracelets. He claims it really helps. He's into natural healing rather than expensive modern medicine. His hands and whole body in general take more of a beating than anyone I know. He's only a farrier now, but used to shoe during the day and work on diesels at night. I'm not totally positive the braclets are for his fingers, hands or wrists or if they are just part of his "bling bling"



Maybe copper is the holy grail

 

[Doc Tinker]

Soak your hands in cider

 

[illflem]

I use gloves for the course jobs but for dexterity it's hard to beat barrier lotion made for painters. The lotion forms a invisible barrier to grease and oil, doesn't wash off with water. Grease wipes off your hands with a rag like it would off a piece of steel. You don't even notice you have it on but must wait a couple minutes after applying for it to dry. Won't protect you from cuts but does contain an antibacterial to help heal faster and a moisturizer to keep from drying out. Several companies make the barrier lotion, the type I'm using right now is Go-Jo from Napa. Great stuff.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Originally posted by Doc Tinker

Soak your hands in cider

Hard or fresh? If it was hard, you could just drink it and it would not matter

 

[patrobertson]

SALT!!!

Favorite sore, cut healer, burn like a, well you can imagine, but it heals up real quick, I'm young and have scares on scares on my hands, Salt has lots of uses and cheap for a college bachelor.



Also works to cure sinus inffections, just mix light salt water and snort just enough to get up in your sinuses, not down your throat. Sounds like it sucks, and it does, but it works. The mechanix gloves work really well to, but sometimes I just can't use em.



Shane

 

[BFC]

Originally posted by Leon R

What I use to help heal those annoying little cuts and those dry skin cracks around your fingernails is Loctite super bonder instant adhesive. Make sure the cuts are clean and dry and just glue them shut. It seals them over nicely and they heal in a day or so. Apparently its the same stuff they use in hospitals for a type of stitchless repair.

It's the same PRINCIPAL not same stuff. BIG difference!!!! "Super glues" have some nasty chemicals that can send you into toxic shock and kill you or make you wish it would! Medical grade chemical compound and industrial ones are VERY different.



Think your dentist gets his nitrous at the local hot rod shop? Need oxygen, fire up the cutting torch? I don't think so. .

 

[nickleinonen]

Originally posted by BFC

It's the same PRINCIPAL not same stuff. BIG difference!!!! "Super glues" have some nasty chemicals that can send you into toxic shock and kill you or make you wish it would! Medical grade chemical compound and industrial ones are VERY different.



Think your dentist gets his nitrous at the local hot rod shop? Need oxygen, fire up the cutting torch? I don't think so. .

medical NOS will gain you some improvment when used in a nos system, but not as much as racing nos. but if you can get it from a medical gas company, it is a lot cheaper [know someone who did so back when he was a youngin']

 

[lschultz]

I did it again

Um Doc see what you caused. I responded to your comment about soak it in cider and somebody(I wonder who)deleted it. I guess I said the incorrect thing ----again. Doc started it -you getting me in trouble Doc or 1-my head 2-fingers did it.