How to cover wounds while swimming?

Question

I am going swimming soon, and I need a way to cover up a gash on my arm so that the chlorine doesn’t get to it. It is too big for a band-aid, and I am completely blank as to what else to use. Gauze? Um… thats all I can even think of. Many, many thanks.

Francesco Paucek · Accepted Answer

The best course is not to go swimming, at all. Swimming with an open wound is not a good idea. You would be injuring not only yourself but exposing others to germs, also. In fact, you can get a number of horrible illnesses from contaminated water.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

This Site Might Help You. RE:How to cover wounds while swimming?I am going swimming soon, and I need a way to cover up a gash on my arm so that the chlorine doesn’t get to it. It is too big for a band-aid, and I am completely blank as to what else to use. Gauze? Um… thats all I can even think of. Many, many thanks.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

how about liquid bandaid, don’t use gauze it will get wet and stick to the wound. Do you have to go swimming? Is it worth it to get a open cut wet? Let it heal before you think about swimming, let alone the fact that even with a covering, you will be stressing the wound by using your arm while swimming. I had to sit out the summer on a deck with a pool because I had a cast on. It was not worth it to get the cast wet.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

Swim shoes and swim socks are available at sporting goods stores. However, if all you’re talking about is scars, the vast majority of people won’t give it any notice at all. You think that everybody looks at your foot, right? Well, other than little kids, they don’t! One thing that lots of people with obvious scars to about swimming is to concoct some wild story about how they got the scars, and that really works with little kids who do tend to ask, or at least to stare. I have a friend with scars from open heart surgery, and he has for years told kids that they are from a bear that broke into his bedroom in Alaska and tried to eat him. Another says he is the sole survivor of Jack the Ripper. A third says he was on safari in Africa, fell into a hole full of hungry tigers, and was rescued by an elephant.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

As a nurse, the best thing I think to use would be a clear film like dressing called Tegaderm or Opsite (I am in Australia so they are probably under a different name in different countries). They come in various sizes and are like a clear fake skin type of dressing which is waterproof and will protect the wound. I’m sure you would be able to get something similar in the pharmacy, they are sold by the piece over here and are pretty cheap.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

Chlorine is used to kill germs in a swimming pool. The only thing that can cover your wound is a waterproof plaster that will not come off.Otherwise you will have to leave it open, considering it is not weeping and that it is cleaned.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

I would start by doing the Gauze covering like you were thinking then, I would use first aid tape and put some sort of plastic over it as well while swimming.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

Frankly put. YOU DON’T. any band aid or trans-pore tape will come off when you go into the water. not to mention the band aid will end up soaked by the water and you’ll have a soggy gauze falling off anyways. Seriously, don’t swim. it’s not worth delaying healing for a week. just suntan and chat up the babes/dudes the only other option is tape it up with electrical tape which will probabally not work long, will give you rashes, and will hurt like the dickens when you pull it off.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

I agree with others recommending Tegaderm, but while it is fairly watertight, it does breathe, so it is semipermeable. This means it should be promptly removed after you swim in case pool water has escaped into it.

Francesco Paucek · Answer

Look for a product called Tegaderm. It is like an adhesive plastic wrap. You might have to look at a medical supply store.

Dr. Nina Hettinger I

How to cover wounds while swimming?

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