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George
New Member
Username: galager
Post Number: 5
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 4:06 pm: |   |
Hi DrO,
Our mustang had a fall last week and cut his leg on the front side of the cannon bone. The cut is about 3-4 inches in length and according to your web site can be classified as full skin laceration. Our veterinarian couldn’t make it out to our farm so we treated and bandaged according to her recommendations (bute, SMZ, neosporin) and the information on your web site. We re-bandaged today and took a close look at the wound. I have attached two pics taken 12 days after the injury. Unfortunately, there is a significant amount of loose (detached) skin that did not graft to the underlying tissue (pic 1 before cleanup with hose; pic 2 shows a return to the normal red coloration of the tissue after cleanup and exposure to air for 1-2 hours). Perhaps this is not unusual. We don’t think our bandaging was at fault. At first it appeared that the graft was taking. However, the next day our horse became very bored with all of this and began to bite at the bandage and disturb the skin adjacent the cut. For several days, we were changing the bandage daily. His disposition subsequently changed and each of the last two bandages has been in place for about 3 days. Apparently he prefers a soft cotton flannel as padding (as opposed to absorbent cotton or quilted cotton) over the gauze pad!
There is no sign of infection or lameness but I assume that there will be a large scar. How much longer should we continue to bandage the wound? We are concerned that the loose skin could get caught and torn if left uncovered. Should it be surgically removed or allowed to slowly “die off”? Would you recommend changing the bandage more frequently? Our horse is becoming more resistant to the bandaging so probably not possible to re-bandage on a daily basis. Any recommendations?
Thanks for your advice.
P.S. Unfortunately my images are much too large. The smallest is about 800 Kb as a pdf file. I will see if I can compress to make the 64 KB limit. |
Ann
Member
Username: dres
Post Number: 1765
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 5:28 pm: | |
http://webresizer.com/resizer/ down load your photo here , its easy and you will have a smaller pix so we can see your horses injury.. That site is where i do all my resizing..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots.. |
George
Member
Username: galager
Post Number: 6
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 6:55 pm: | |
Anne,
Thanks for the information on the web site for resizing my photos. Here they are...
George
 |
George
Member
Username: galager
Post Number: 7
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 7:02 pm: | |
Ann,
Sorry, but I noticed I placed an "e" on the end of your first name. My apology and thanks again.
George |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: dro
Post Number: 20484
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 7:20 pm: | |
This tissue will "graft" down with proper care in time George and maintaining a clean wound with bandaging to keep the loose skin against the leg will help minimize complications. However since I cannot personally examine the wound I cannot give particular recommendations. In general for treating wounds I follow, as closely as possible, the recommendations in the article Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Wounds / Burns » Long Term Deep Wound Care
DrO |
Elizabeth Kaufman
Member
Username: ekaufman
Post Number: 476
Registered: 3-2007
| | Posted on Monday, Apr 14, 2008 - 8:32 pm: | |
Hi George,
I had an old TB that had a similar open wound on his cannon bone (he also fractured the bone in the fall, however). It mended beautifully eventually, but required great patience and a lot of cold water and nolvasan cream! I kept it wrapped for a very long time (I think it was months), and the scarring wasn't too bad, at least for an old racer/jumper/terror of the high seas. It was boring for me and for the horse. Better on a black leg than a white one, at least.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on. |
