Natural First Aid for Wounds

DEEP laceration healed in 7 days (with images)

So this really blew me away. I had about a half inch deep & inch long laceration on my hand. My amazing wife looked on Earth clinic and saw this crazy remedy of pouring alcohol in it (it stung pretty bad for only about four seconds) and Cayenne pepper (felt next to nothing when I poured this in the wound, which is crazy).

Since I didn't want to spend 4 hours in the hospital plus about $1500, I thought what the heck. The middle picture is minutes after the cut, the top picture is one week later, & the last picture is two weeks later (which is just a few days ago).

I changed the Band-Aid and the Cayenne pepper four times during the first seven days. And then I just left it completely open after that.

Absolutely amazing. Thanks to all of you who brought this to our attention.

An adult son of mine cut his finger at work with a utility knife. The blade was a new one and the cut was to the bone. He had a hard time getting the bleeding to stop but eventually taped it up and kept working.

I dressed the wound each night with iodine an honey. A friend of mine had cautioned me that a bone infection could result if the bone had been nicked.

Each night, when he got home from work and after showering, I put one drop of 5% iodine in the wound and then a few drops of honey. I covered this with a fabric adhesive bandage and secured it with cohesive tape. He wore a splint on the thumb for the first 5 days because movement was likely to re-open the wound. I think I did the iodine and honey treatment for 6 or 7 days total.

For the first two nights I also applied a cooled, blanched plantain leaf before the adhesive bandage since that would not stick to the wound at all. Plantain also helps with pain relief and wound healing.

He does have a scar but the wound has healed nicely and never had a single sign of infection. And he is currently working outside in the heat, so the bandage would be wet all day from sweating.

He was making sure he had full motion of his finger. With deep wounds there are many risks, including nerve and tendon damage, infection, etc. I did ask if he wanted to go get stitches but he did not.

Iodine is a great antimicrobial and so is honey. Honey is also excellent for wound healing.

~Mama to Many~

When my son was a teen, he cut the tip of his finger whilst out in the garage. A stubborn mule, he refused to get stitches. We put vitamin e on it every day and it healed perfectly without a scar. This was in the 1970s.

I am always tweaking my wound treatment protocol. And my children keep giving me opportunities to do so!

My son was on a construction project at work and fell backwards and gouged his hand on a cinder block. He ripped off layers of skin in a line and his hand was sore and swelling.

The cinder block had been dirty. He did immediately clean the wound with peroxide.

I had him shower when he got home and we began treating the wound. I gave him turmeric internally to help with pain, swelling and infection prevention.

I mixed together equal parts of powdered goldenseal (for infection), Plantain (for skin regeneration) and slippery elm (nutrients for skin and a "natural" bandage) This powder I sprinkled generously onto the wound.

I took two strips of old clean t-shirt. I applied a thick layer of a mixture of castor oil and lanolin down the center of the t-shirt strip. Then I applied a layer of honey onto that. Then I applied this "bandage" to the wound.

So the wound had the following on it, in order from the wound site - herbal powder, honey, castor oil/lanolin, t-shirt bandage. I held all of this on with a cohesive tape that I buy by the case!

I changed the bandage every 24 hours. Within 24 hours we could see new skin growing in the wound.

He missed 2 days of work because he thought he was at risk for re-opening the wound with the type of work he does. He was able to return to work after that. I think another day or two of the bandages and he won't need them any more.

A difficulty with wounds is that moist wound healing is ideal. But the skin can get kind of waterlogged with no air. I did not use any plastic to hold in moisture this time, just oil, lanolin and honey to keep in moisture. I think this was better than anything plastic but the wound did not dry out.

~Mama to Many~

Skin abrasions, Road rash, Skinned knees, Burns. (Probably Cuts and Incisions.)

Buy online and Twice a day (am and before bed) apply:

Gotu Kola (non-alcoholic extract! )PLUS Sea Buckthorn pure oil. Just put enough drops to cover wound. A typical knee scrape is about 2 drops of each. Touch the oils lightly on the skin with your finger to ensure absorption. Cover with Bandaids until oozing stops, then cover only at night to prevent rubbing of wound until skin looses it's pinkness.

Amazing combination for difficult abrasions and burns!!!

I've used it many times with quick, non-scaring results. Pass it on...

(I imagine it would work great on cuts and incisions, I've just never have had the opportunity to try it on those yet.)

Honey for Healing of Wound With Grit

I recently went on holiday to Thailand with the family and thought my health kit was well stocked. I had tea tree oil and Vicks for bug bites and repellant, also tto is antiseptic, magnesium malate for magnesium and as an apple cider vinegar replacement, Olive leaf for antibiotics should anyone develop sickness, a wholefood multi vitamin to replace the many tablets I use at home, borax for laundry and head to toe body wash inc teeth brushing (add water) rosehips for wholefood vitamin c, beet root for my husband's blood sugar, kids organic multivitamin and melatonin for sleep assist with the added benefit of gut health. I thought I had every situation covered! Until I fell in the street (narrow foot path) directing all sorts of filth into the soft part of my inner ankle and foot. I had twisted my ankle in the fall as well but did not realise for a few days.

Not in much pain but embarrassed and bloody, I returned the short walk to the hotel and passing the bar collected some salt. In the room I soaked my foot in the salt and water, cleaning it was difficult it now hurt sooo much and to my dismay I saw grit embedded in the wound. I hobbled to the couch whereas before treatment I was walking normally, albeit slowly, the attention I had paid to my injury had been rewarded with large pain increase. I applied the tto oil and researched poultice that I could access in Thailand. If I was at home there would be at least twelve plants in my garden I could use for this purpose, my husband calls some of them weeds. I could have really used one of Mama's charcoal poultices!

I found that honey could be used as poultice which I was not confident of but thought at least it has healing properties, so when hubby and kids returned from foot massage (! ) I asked him to get the purest honey they had at the chemist. I applied the honey, covering with tea bag wrapper (limited supplies) so it wouldn't stick to the wound, and a sock to hold it in place. I rested it by having a few days just watching the kids in the pool. Twice a day I applied the honey, I didn't have to touch the tender skin which was a plus, just plopped the honey on it till it was covered. The grit was still there though, but I couldn't touch it still and would not allow my husband to either.

When the wound scabbed over I was a little concerned because I knew the grit had not come out, but I had put my faith in the healing properties of the honey. I stopped applying the honey once the scabs formed. Couple weeks later when the scabs came off, the skin was pink and healthy. I guess that as much as I thought I was prepared you cannot prepare for everything, but EC got me through.

My husband cut his scalp a couple of weeks ago. I used the principles of moist wound healing to treat it. We took pictures to monitor the progress. I have posted at the bottom; sorry the first one is pretty icky! He took the picture with his phone and texted it to me to ask what he should do for it. We didn't begin treating it until he got home from work and showered. In the shower, he removed the piece of skin that was still sticking to the wound. (He scraped off a layer of skin climbing into a work trailer.)

After the initial cleaning and removal of dead skin, all we did was use a dressing of a healing salve I make (we keep it on hand for daily use) and a large fabric bandage. We usually changed the bandage every evening. He would leave it open for an hour or two after his shower each night and then we would re dress it. Once or twice we left the bandage on for 2 days. We did this for a total of 10 days. Perhaps the dressing was not needed the last few days but we wanted to give that tender skin a little longer to heal. He is hard on his head at work (He keeps it shaved) as you will see by the additional cut in latter pictures.

I messed with the wound as little as possible. He was rinsing it in the shower. I would apply a very thick layer of healing salve to the bandage – not the wound, so I wouldn't have to mess with the wound. The layer of salve was probably 3-4 mm thick. The salve and bandage never once stuck to the wound. New skin cells and evidence of healing were noticed within 24 hours!

Some advantages to moist wound healing include less pain, faster cell regeneration, reduced tissue death and dehydration, and reduced scarring. Pretty nice advantages!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8109679

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3842869/

Additionally, herbal healing salves contain nutrients that the body can use to heal. The salve I used has plantain, which helps with pain and comfrey which promotes skin cell regeneration. The olive oil and coconut oil base contain nutrients also.

We have seen other things used for moist wound healing with great results as well.

Honey is amazing for wound healing. When my mother was elderly and near death, she had bedsores that were not healing. The nurses used honey on the sores and there was actually an improvement in the wounds, even in my mother's severely compromised state of health.

Lanolin is used for breastfeeding moms to heal cracked nipples with a great reduction in pain and faster healing.

I have not tried it but I suspect that lanolin and honey mixed together would make a nice wound dressing.

Herbal salves and honey are also used for burn treatment with great success.

A dozen years or so ago my daughter had a bike accident. She basically tore many layers of skin off of the bottom of her foot as it rubbed along a bike tire. (She was about 4.) It was very, very painful. The doctor I took her to introduced me to Advantix bandages. Daily I changed the dressing. I was only using those bandages that did not stick to the wound (and pull of new skin cells as dry dressings do.) (I think I had a layer of Advantix then gauze then cohesive tape, but not positive.) This dressing worked well and she was not experiencing pain with it and her healing was pretty easy.

Deeper wounds are more complicated because of fluids the wound produces – they need a place to go. But there are protocols to benefit from moist wound healing from them, but I am not suggesting that my methods here would be appropriate.

There are manuka honey bandages and colloidal silver bandages available too. It is good to know about these options before the need arrives. I try to keep a decent supply of first aid supplies at home.

Picture 1 - right after the injury

Picture 2 - 48 hours later

Picture 3 - 4 days after injury

Picture 4 - 10 days after injury

~Mama to Many~

Could you elaborate how to stop bleeding with onion skins? Thank you.

No pain from chainsaw wound with aloe vera and arnica. This is written 14 hours later 6:52 am November 29, 2016

Yesterday at 3:45 pm I was cut by a chain saw in between my ring and second finger. The owner of the house put juice from the aloe vera plant I just happened to have because me and my cat have been taking father romano zago's formula and am on the second ten day period of the on aloe cycle. Took 3 arnica tablets. The juice oozed out freely and he put a gauze pad on top and in two hours changed the bandage. I think the gauze stuck and it started bleeding. This time put a slice of the plant on top of the wound which was rough cut and a gauze pad on top of that. The only pain I have had is when the aloe touched the wound.

Took two more arnica tablets and have had nothing since. It is 6:46am the 29th and I still have absolutely no pain. The bandage has not been changed again yet and have taken no more arnica. I later remembered reading the history of aloe vera. It was given as gifts to ancient monarchs to use for soldiers' wounds so I felt that I had indeed done the correct thing. It should have had many stitches.

I am writing this with my bandage on to record this so I don't forget, and stretching to reach the keys as little as possible to hit the keys. Still no pain.

Wow the post about potatoes for blood poisoning

! Luv to hear other things u grandma used. I know I have seen the fine skin of a white onion stop bleeding.

I've discovered two different types of tape that can be used on my skin, without irritation, without the expense of medical tape and without coming off, even in the shower. Gaff tape and kinesiology tape. Kinesiology tape is lighter and stretches but gaff tape is useful for hundreds of things. They both come in a variety of colors. Cutting clean old t-shirts into gauze squares, you'd have more bandages than you'd ever need.

Couldn't agree more the best way to heal a cut or abrasion is to use the Gel cut straight from the Aloe Vera leaf and placed over the wound. It will cut healing time in half and also improve the look of any scaring that may be left behind after the healing process. An Aloe Vera plant is a great thing to keep at home for such instances. Natures natural remedies are always the best.

Cindy, This tape sounds so cool! I will definitely be getting some for my first aid box. Thanks for sharing. I have never heard of this stuff! ~Mama to Many~

Hi! Just wanted to share a tip regarding the application of substances to the skin.

I had a cut on the bottom of my foot and applied cayenne with "kinesiology tape" and forgot all about it. Two days later IT WAS STILL STUCK! And it wasn't hard to get off, either!

It's called "Kinesiology Tape" and comes in all kinds of different colors - I'd heard of it and then forgot all about it until I noticed it at my GROCERY store! Apparently it's very widely used for whatever they use it for which I don't fully understand, but what drew my attention when I first heard about it was that it stays put, even if you sweat. And it really does!

Plus, using it as I did, the roll I bought will probably last me the rest of my life because you don't have to "wrap" it around and use a bunch of it - you just cut a little piece, put the herbs or whatever you're applying in the middle and leave a clean edge to stick to the skin. Just a small piece is all it takes.

Awesome!

Hi Deirdre,

Have you tried taking vitamin E in addition to applying the contents from a capsule? I read it was beneficial to do both. Even though it's been several years maybe keeping the E on the scar under a band aid for several months (six minimum) could soften it and you'd be able to tell if it is helping. I had a horrible wide scar after having an appendectomy. I kept it bathed in vitamin E under a giant band aid for six months and the scar softened and is hardly noticeable. After a shower apply the E and band aid right away.

I think it would be worth trying.

Dear Dale,

Wow, your post brings back memories! A long time ago I added a post to Earth Clinic warning about using cayenne for deep cuts. I just hunted for my post and found that I had posted it as a WARNING! back in 2009 instead of a NAY.

You are right about the extreme pain lingering from the use of cayenne. Makes me shudder to remember how painful it was for many hours after I washed the cayenne off.

I should have gone for stitches that day instead of sprinkling cayenne all over the deep cut I got from a glass bottle that had fallen out of the fridge and onto my foot. Because it didn't heal properly, anytime I touch the scar on the bottom of my foot, I still get a mild shooting pain.

I tried cayenne on a knife cut I got on my pointer finger. The pain of the initial cut wasn't too bad, and washing it out with soap was bearable. There was no pain remaining and the bleeding had stopped a couple hours afterward when I read the post on Cayenne Pepper hoping to heal the cut faster. I sprinkled a little Cayenne in the cut, and on came the burn. It was an extreme pain, even though the cut was at the tip of my pointer finger, the pain burned through to my thumb and middle finger. I left it for about a minute thinking the "mosquito bite" type pain was under-exaggerated. It just got worse. I eventually washed it out with water, but the pain lingered. I applied neosporin, and the pain slowly went down and away in about 10 minutes. Wouldn't recommend this experience.

I tried to think of explanations because I'm the one Nay as of now. At first I thought the Cayenne I used had salt blended in. But that wasn't the case. Then I thought it was from the grains spreading the would open. That wasn't it either because with Neosporin, I can flap it all the way open without pain.

One of my cats took a swipe at my face yesterday morning and left a scratch about 3/4 inch long beside my nose. He was mad I had not fed him yet....anyhow, I cleaned up the scar with some soap and water, dried my face, then mixed one drop of frankincense essential oil and about 1/8th teaspoon of virgin, organic unrefined coconut oil in the palm of my hand. I applied this blend to my face and scar. I just rubbed it in to my whole face.

This morning I woke up - No visible sign of the scratch! I knew frankincense was powerful - but I sort of can't believe my eyes.

I purchased some frankincense and myrrh essential oils to make some organic face and body creams and tested my sensitivity to these oils on my skin with sweet almond oil a couple days ago but had no idea of the power of healing these oils had until I watched "The Truth About Cancer". I thought to myself, if frankincense could help people heal from cancer, it should work on a cat scratch! Wow!

From here on out, my skin care routine will always include organic lotion I make with frankincense and myrrh. Dr. Josh Axe has a recipe on his site that I will be using.

I'm sitting here....I still can't believe it.

MyWay :D

I was at a friend's house and was cutting some tomatoes with a sharp knife. I accidentally nicked my finger. You know how those types of cuts hurt! I find they sometimes hurt for days while they are healing. I keep a bandaid on them during the healing process because it does help the cut to stay together and not hurt.

I asked my friend for some cayenne pepper. I sprinkled a bit onto the cut. I expected a bit of a brief sting, but there was no pain at all. I covered the cut with a bandaid so I could finish cutting tomatoes (since fresh tomatoes are the very best thing about summer, in my opinion! )

That night I removed the bandaid. The cut looked healed up already. It never gave me any trouble and I never needed a second bandaid.

I think this would work well for paper cuts, too.

I love when a simple plant can remove little irritations in life!

~Mama to Many~

Some healing advice - ancestrors (Voortrekkers=Pioneers) apparently used a piece of bread sprinkled with sugar onto a raw wound and that healed it.

+1 for Cayenne (we just call it 'chilli' in oz).

I had tried out some home made black salve on a mole (it works by the way but is so very potent and must be used with great care and in small amounts) and the wound it left was healing a bit too slow for my liking. After reading this page on EC I tried chilli powder - the speed of healing is astounding. Just in one night a very noticeable healing.

There is only a mild stinging from the chilli which is comparable to a mosquito bite. Previously I was just using turmeric as a precaution against staph, but now I use mostly chilli with a little turmeric.

ACV works very well!

A very dear friend of mine was in the passenger seat during a car accident. Her face was quite badly cut and bruised when the airbag activated.

We recommended ACV and it worked beautifully. All the bruising and swelling cleared nicely. The first morning after the accident she woke with swelling around her mouth (the airbag hit her mouth and cut it quite badly), she applied the ACV and the swelling quickly went down. 3 weeks later and it is healing beautifully and it looks like there won't be any scars.

It stung a bit so we diluted it until tolerable, she found that it would only sting at first and then after a few minutes the sting would cease to be an issue when ACV was reapplied. ACV can dry the skin out a little (nothing major), in which case you just need some moisturiser.

I had a bike accident and I scratch my chin I just soaked it in ACV and it heals it fast.