How to remove a stuck bandage archived

jasper

Mar 19, 2012 at 4:50pm

My son has a gauze bandage stuck to a road-rash-like cut just below his knee, and nothing we've tried will free it. I had put tons of neosporin ointment on it before attaching the bandage last night, but the fabric seems to have knit itself to the skin. It's too painful to just tear it off, as it's stuck to about a square inch worth of skin. I just had him take a shower to soften things up, but it didn't help. Any other ideas?

Woot

Mar 19, 2012 at 4:54pm Edited

Try liberal amounts of Hydrogen Peroxide. It should react with the dried blood and loosen it up.

emmie

Mar 19, 2012 at 4:57pm

Place a clean warm wet face cloth on it for about 5 minutes or so and soak it off. After that dry the wound off very gently and make sure new dressing stays clean and dry.

sprout

Mar 19, 2012 at 5:09pm Edited

Dab large amounts of baby oil (or olive oil) on the bandage and try to gently rub it in. Let it soak for a couple mins. If it can get through, it will reduce the stickyness of the adhesive. Works well to make removing bandaids ouchless.

jasper

Mar 19, 2012 at 5:09pm Edited

Thanks, emmie. Yes, that's what we did, and it seems to have worked. This was a very oozy cut, so I think it kept creating a sticky environment. We're going to try the spray-on bandage, if it's still working.

sprout, I did initially try using some Vaseline, but it didn't penetrate sufficiently; an oil probably would have been better, but we're good now.

Woot, we did use hydrogen peroxide to clean the wound when he first got it.