How Do I Bandage Those Knees & Elbows?

By far, most of the questions I receive involve children. With those bundles of joy and angst come skins and scrapes, a great number of them to knees and elbows, or perhaps to the ends of tiny toes. So, how do you keep them clean while they heal?

After thoroughly cleansing the wounds (remember: deep gashes require an emergency room visit), cover the area with damp gauze; Big Lots or even the Dollar Tree carry inexpensive 2x2 and 4x4 cotton gauge. Now...the hard part: How do you keep gauze in place on an area that bends so freely and frequently?

Look no further than your closet. While you may use some old tee-shirts as dust clothes or rags to absorb oil in the garage, be sure to save some for bandages. Wash the shirt, preferably all cotton, and cut into 3" strips, the longer the better. Now you have a clean inexpensive bandage to hold the gauze in place. Most wounds should be healed enough in 24 to 36 hours to dispense with bandaging, but continue to spray or manually apply a good antiseptic until they heal completely.

Finally, remember, they do grow up eventually,

Nurse Nan