Fish wounds and healing

[Jennie@ifish]

What is it in fish?
I get cut by their teeth, and it takes FOREVER to heal! Then you get another one, and it dries, cracks and won't heal.
Seems there is something in fish slime that isn't good for healing.
Anyone else have this problem?
My hands look awful! All cut up and cracked!
Maybe I should soak in Palmolive? :smile:
Jen

[Seefood Man]

Dear Jen; First thanks for having me on ifish. Currently, I'm living vicariously through the folks here on ifish, until I move to Woodland,Wa.
Been land locked here in Colorado for five years now. Can't wait to close on the house here, to get back home. Anyway, In the ER we clean all wounds with Povidone-Iodine (AKA Betadine) antiseptic, then would apply a triple antibiotic ointment. A good brand is Fougera. It has Neomycin, Bacitracin and Polymyxin, which just means it's good stuff! Clean, dry, apply and cover. However, the most important thing is you can't do dishes or housework for a week or two! :smile: or until the wounds heal. Sincerely Pete G
-----------------
I've never caught a "Trash Fish"

[brshooter]

I sure wish I had fish wounds on my hands!

Hopefully, I will be one of the wounded this weekend. :grin:

[jet]

I agree with Bill, I want more fish wounds, scars and bruises.

Chinook tooth slashes and Sturgeon tail bruises, The more you get the more you've caught...

Jet~~~

[ampersat]

geez, i wish i had to worry about all the cuts on my hands from fish. life is so hard for some people.

definitely clean up all your wounds and apply whatever salve you like. if you need to wash dishes, get some gloves. if you're that worried about slashing up your hands, take the gloves out with you fishing. you may look a little silly but you pay for beauty.

[Pete]

Well, there are plenty of ways to get cut while fishing; fish teeth are bad, line cuts while adjusting a mooching rig or unhooking a wild fish, crab pinches or shell slices while cleaning them. All these things seem to get infected very easily. Unfortunately, I don't have ER facilities on my boat to clean each cut with betadine, apply a triple antibiotic ointment and dress it properly with a sterile bandage which I then keep dry. And when I get home there are dishes to do and kids to wash. So I end up with my share of slow healing owies. The tooth cuts and crab shell slices don't really bother me. It's the cracks around my fingernails that really get to me. I guess I could just quit fishing ... or not!

[Bait O' Eggs]

Since I started removing my fingers from the mouth while applying the wood shampoo my teeth cuts have gone way down.

I am with you Pete, anything close to the finger tips really bothers me. I use a pencil at my desk job with a rubber grip so it is more comfortable. I just cannot figure out why the soft supple hands get cut up so easily on the weekends.

[fishbait]

By the time I get done fall fishing my hands sometimes look like hamburger. BUT, the last few years I have been putting neaosporin on the cuts and covering with a bandaid and leaving it there till it falls off, then replacing it for 4 to 6 days total at a mininum. Keep it wet or moist at all times. If you do this these cuts will heal faster. Since our bodies are about 80 some % water, the cells will heal/grow faster in a moist environment. Try it for yourself.........

[Gooey - Bob]

Jennie thats what you get when you put your hand in the mouth of a CHUM :grin:

Gooey-Bob

[Joe Schwab]

Be careful Jennie, you can get some very nasty stuff from fish slime especially from river fish. For some reason salt water fish are not as bad. We always used a bleach solution and soaked our hands after a day of halibut fishing in Alaska. Some of those scratches could get infected in a hurry. Worked for me!!

[STGRule]

Hey Pete: You don't need an ER. Just put a couple of those tear-open swabs of Betadyne, a couple bandaids, and a tube of ointment in an old metal bandaid can (remember thoses?)and put it in your tackle box. This works wonders. I have done this for years.

[ 11-20-2001: Message edited by: STGRule ]</p>

[smoky]

Neosporin for the cuts. (Original formula, not the extra strength).

Just being in the water kills my hands, not to mention the borax/chemicals from eggs.

I started coating my hands with Bag Balm and wearing surgical gloves.

If the gloves tear or get messy, I just tear off and grab another pair. Went through a whole box in three trips, but well worth $5.99.

[fishbait]

There have been times in years past where I have coated my hands with neosporin and then put latex gloves on just before I went to bed and slept with them on.

[hoochie]

I keep a bottle of NuSkin in the boat. It works like superglue and covers a cut nicely.
Antibiotic cleansing first, then the NuSkin.

Got a Halibut-tooth cut in Canada to years ago and it stayed infected and sore for weeks!
Didn't have the right stuff on-board the boat and I paid dearly.

[ 11-22-2001: Message edited by: hoochie ]</p>

[Fishen Fool]

Jennie, I'm glad to hear that I am not the only one to notice that it takes longer for fish teeth cuts to heal. I asked my doctor about it and he said it was all in my head!

[Rauly]

Jen this may sound crazy but it realy works. I have handled thousands of salmon and with that comes many tooth cuts and sore hands. Clean cut with peroxide put neosorin on and then surgical gloves. Now for the crazy part. If your hands get realy sore cover them with Preperation H and put surical gloves on for about 6 - 9 hours. If you do this when you go to bed you will wake with new hands.

[Trick]

When my hands get infected from teeth tears, a trip out clam-digging heals them in a jiffy. Don't know why but it works. I might try soaking my hand in epson salts someday to see if that heals them up fast.

It is true...fish wounds take longer to heal and almost always are infected no matter how small the scratch and salmon seem to be the worst.

[William]

Have had a similar problem pulling net, got a serious cut and some fish slime got in it. Chinook slime to be exact from the Klamath river. Had to go to the Dr. and get a big shot in the butt. My hand was infected and swelled up to about size of a softball. It was very painful. Carry along a spray bottle of dilute bleach water, to spray cut soon after.

[JPSFISHY]

Oh too be wounded!ha That's the price we pay I guess. I've noticed that even folks with different complexions get it worse. I've noticed that since I started keeping a tube of "Go Jo" or "Fast Orange" hand cleaner in the boat and washing my hands once in a while, that the soreness goes away quickly. Besides a handcleaner, the stuff has a little lotion/hand softener in it. Have'nt noticed any sent problems with it either. You can find it at any auto parts section at Freds or Joes. Good stocking stuffer for fisher friends too. And cheep.ha Hope it helps ya.

[DK]

and carry a tube of supper glue, close the cut apply a laywer over the cut blow, wa la fixed, closing up the cut really makes it feel better also

[will_e_fish]

I have had my share of cuts this year and been hooked frome trying to release thrashing natives. Yeah BOE is right keeping fingers out of the fishs mouth while administering sedative lessens the chance of bites. "I have got a fish bite I cant do the dishes for 2 weeks", will not work for me. That translates into you won't see your pole for 2 weeks. Giving the cuts and wounds attention is a good you don't want them nagging you for the next days casting and fish fighting. I dont buy into the triple antibiotic sterility, neosposrin,peroxide,only if my arm feel off. You are killing your bodies immune system and the basular membrane cells,from which the repair and healing come.If it is killing germs it is also killing part of your skins health. Yeah I know that is too much info to worry about when all you really want to do is kill your next fish.

My dad had diabetes with slow circulation it always prolonged cuts healing. Alternative ointments with olive oil, propolis(a bee product),calendula(marigold),goldenseal and beewax would usually heal anything quicker. It does by the way keep th wound soft and moist.

Got rough chapped hands or diaper rash? Want to keep them soft as a babys rear try olive oil.
Those old fisheromen from the bible said olive oil was the annointing oil. Amen It works for me.

[Crabby 2]

Fishen Fool,

I don't want to alarm all you Ifishers, but if the good doctor says that it's all in your mind, get another opinion and another if necessary. Let me tell you about an opinion that needed an expert.

We were crabbing at Netarts Bay on a beautiful September morning a few years back. My then 4 year old daughter thought the red rock crabs that we were catching were darling. Little did we know how cranky those little devils are. Soon after capturing a red rock crab, she was screeming and trying to extricate the crab from her index finger.After we separated her from the crab, we didn't think much of the blood streaming from her pinched finger tip. She and we soon forgot about the event and succeeded in catching enough crab for a feed. Several weeks passed and we noticed little masses forming on her finger, just proximal to the nail. Eventually, these masses grew and looked like miniture volcanos. Our pediatrician declared Fungus, since we live in a rural area. As the masses grew and new ones formed on her hand, we asked to see a specialist. Fortunately, Emanuel Hospital has an infectious disease staff. I had suspicions, but needed to wait for the surgical biopsy reports and culture and sensitivity tests that took nearly a month. All the while, thse masses were creeping up her hand. So, in January we have the diagnosis! Mycobacterium marinum. Anybody familiar with this bug? It causes finger tip infections because it likes growing in the cooler part of the finger or appendage and follows the lymphatic vessels. It is a common organism in the marine world...especially in fish slime and apparently on crab surfaces. It also lives in fish tanks. We are blessed with a beautiful healthy growing girl. She faithfully swallowed antibiotics for 9 months and I'm thankful to say that she still crabs with me. I must admit that I sometimes find myself staring at her scarred finger and hand and wish it had not happened. She's tougher than I am...Kids are!

So, if one of these finger tip infections just won't heal, remember that there are other infectious agents out there that will grow inspite of topical antibiotics and antifungals.

Dale

[Crabby 2]

Oops...I forgot to say that the common name for M. marinum is Fish Tuberculosis. I think that my daughter may have had the dubious distinction of being the youngest human to contract and be cured of the disease...Just speculating.

Dale :shocked:

[Charlie]

To Jenie
I just read the various stories about cut hands/
fingers while fishing etc.all the advice makes
sense,and most all will work, however I found a
hand medication which is called "That-Stuff", it
is made by a in Wyoming has been used over 50 years originally used by the miners-railroad workers-cowboys and sheepmen...it is great and I
will be happy to send you a bottle, just let me
know if you want to try it.

All so I use most everyday "Wool Wax Cream: this
is made in Montana....sounds sheepy but it is great.

I find that the Alkali lakes I fish cause the most
problem....and when I get a deep cut I use New Skin which has been mentioned.

Take care
cutzc

[Point-of-Sale Clerk]

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

http://www.gulftel.com/~scubadoc/marinf.htm

*** Clerk

[Chris Sessions]

Jennie,
Lots of great advise here but I have one thing to add:
If you would quit long lining Bill and I you wouldn't be the one always catching the fish thus having to handle for pictures and risking injury.
Chris

[Fishen Fool]

Please, please don't tell me that my heroine Jenny is a long liner! I thought that my fishing pardner is the only one that practiced that disasterly deed.

[Jennie@ifish]

I was letting the line out and I asked Chris, "Now? Now? Now?"
He said, "NOW!"
Down it went!
Long lining.... maybe, but with permission and instructions!
Jem :smile: