Irrigation syringe. Use any available potable water. Search amazon: Dynarex Piston Irrigation Syringe 60 cc
5x 5ml saline vials 10ml syringe 3x 600ml drinking water bottles (in large backpack FAK) changed out regularly (every 3-6 months)
My dog is quite happy to clean up any wound,,,,,,, This is not something I have encouraged,,, especially so when I think of where his tongue has been,,,, but when I've grazed myself or got light scratches and subsequently have noticed my dog giving me some attention,,, the wounds have never become infected and have healed up quickly. I did some googling and found that some say the dog's saliva is anti-biotic and others say it will cause infection. Whatever,,,,,,,,, Wiki has some interesting comments http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wound_licking
Its a little old school, will damage tissue. Slightly off topic, but someone above did mention eyes: Was teaching someone to eskimo roll in the pool at work yesterday. My eyes get real sore in pools, but I didn't grab my goggles as I wasn't swimming laps. Spent a little more time with my head underwater than I anticipated and my eyes were killing me by the time I got to the Ambulance garage for my volunteer night shift. Used a couple of little saline bullets but no relief. One of the guys on my team remembered a trick he'd heard about and we tried it out. Got an IV bag of normal saline and a nasal cannula (For those who don't know, thats the little tube you see people using that runs from ear to ear and sits just under the nose for oxygen administration. Has 2 little spouts that go in the nostrils). Cut the IV tube and cannula tube, stuck the IV tube a few inches into the cannula tube and sealed it with tape. Put the cannula across the bridge of my nose with a nostril spout on each side, fits perfectly! Sat with my head leaning back into the sink, hung the IV bag up and slowly ran a litre of saline solution through the cannula perfectly aimed into each eye. Worked a treat!
They have mix your own powders I say and most others do already bagged is the best to buy You can buy it at online medical supply shops or if you can find one an instore one even amazon sells them.
Sterility is a concern so prepackaged is preferred. BUT, in a pinch something is better than nothing.
If you are in the field and need saline solution then make your own,,,,,, it's better than nothing Boil up about 1 pint of water to sterilise it and add 1 teaspoonful of salt and 1/2 teaspoonful of baking soda mix up until it's all dissolved and then let cool. It would be easier to carry a small packet of salt and baking soda than a pack of saline in your FAK. Distilled / de-ionised / de-mineralised water bought for filling steam irons and batteries is often described as sterile so would be a good base for adding salt etc. if nothing else is available I've never had a wound bad enough to need irrigation so I guess I'm lucky,,,,, anybody got a horror story to share??
When I was in the Military and a corpsman ( Vietnam, so it maybe dated) we were taught we could use urine if nothing else was available. It seemed to work well to flush a wound. http://books.google.com/books?id=uY...#v=onepage&q=urine as wound cleansing&f=false Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Yeah,,, urine is sterile when used from the source been doing some reading,,,,,, saliva is anti-septic as are tears
Hmmn, when I was mountain biking a lot more it was: -Pluck the big sticks and rocks out by hand. -Big shot of water from the waterbottle to dislodge the small gravel and get the dirt to float to the surface. -Debride by rubbing vigorously with fingertips, keeping everything loose with a gentle stream from water bottle. -Little smear of Betadine ointment and a sheet or two of Tegaderm and you're good to keep riding. You have to move fast, otherwise it hurts too much, I don't know why, but the Tegaderm really helps with the pain. Anyone know of any effective wipes for poison ivy? I've crashed into a few patches, recognized it, and tried to wash with water to no avail. Cheers, Ted
Urine? Hmm, basically free and readily available. Not sure if that would go well if I had to treat someone. Thanks for the input guys! I live in a construction area, the houses around are still being built. Every now and again, I'll have a worker come up to me for a bandaid or treatment when I'm outside. I've seen some pretty bad lacerations. I'm just using a water bottle with a little hydrogen peroxide.
Skip the hydrogen peroxide. It kills living cells as well as bacteria. The dead cells then become food for bacteria.