Medicated ointments on kids’ open wounds, anyone?
Four days ago, Vai woke up with a rather deep scratch right on his nose.
And just before he went to bed that night, I thought of giving him some sort of an ointment or something to make it heal better.
Usually I’d just apply an antiseptic cream (eg. Savlon), but that night I thought of my recently bought medicated ointment called ‘Zam-buk‘.
It says how it provides fast, effective and soothing relief for bruises, burns, cuts, scalds, insect bites, etc.
And so I applied it on his nose.
The next day, I found out how that was a BAD decision.
His 2mm scratch now has somehow become the size of a 5 cents coin! It must’ve burnt his skin or something! The whole of last monday, it looked like his nose has ‘freshly’ been scraped! Poor thing!
By now, he has a dark red patch right on his nose. The ‘burn’ is finally drying up (it has uneven bumps too!), and though I know the skin will be okay again sooner or later, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way :
AVOID applying such medicated ointments on a child’s ‘open wounds’. Antiseptic cream / wash is better for such a case.
…
Click to see a guide on when to call the doctor (for parents of toddlers)
[ADDED]
This is how our Vai looks like today. The wound is all dry by now. But it looks bigger than yesterday and it looks like it is ‘dripping’ downwards. Weird.
Our family doctor advised that right now we should just let it heal by itself (read: NOT apply anything)
Also he mentioned how Zam-buk is actually not really for little kids, especially NOT on the face!
Sigh. Mommy’s fault.
PS: When people see Vai on the street, they usually go, “Awww, did he fall down badly?”
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Hi Brenda,
The doctor said that Zambuk is actually okay for the skin, but I guess it may also depend on the child’s skin and whether it’s sensitive and delicate ?
Anyway, for my case, I’d now go with creams other than Zambuk when it comes to Vai.
As for bruises, I use Hirudoid on the kids when we’re out and about. It works great on them! (and oh yes, cold pads on the bruise also help a lot!)
xxx
Leonny
hi, it’s me again..
Sometime back when my daughter knocked her head onto a pillar, my Indonesian helper also quickly fished out this ZAM BAK thing from no-where and started to rub into her bruise. And the bruise turned inflammed!
I was shocked and told her to stop immediately as I’ve no idea what this Zam Bak is.. We used a cold pad and placed on the bruise instead and the swell went down quite quickly after. Phew..
hehe … everyone has their own scars somewhere ya … 🙂
I’ve got these 2 boys that have cuts on their face, lor. They are sooooo active and such daredevils. But the scars are not so bad. And they fade. Except for the ones at the eyebrows. those are not noticeable bc eyebrow hair can’t grow.
I think they look quite cool though. Not so bad-looking, lah.
I myself have a scar right in the middle of my nose-bridge, leh. From a BIG chickenpox scar which I sustained as a baby (yah, not even 1 year old). I doubt you’d notice it unless I mention it though!
Delima :
Thanks for the tips ya!
By now (Sunday) the scabs are slowly falling off, but the skin on the nose itself is still red. Waiting for it to heal completely.
…………………………………………………………………..
Sam:
Hi Sam! Thanks for the tips! And yes, I hear it a lot from people too, ie. how kids’ skin heals really well and fast. I guess I won’t feel as bad if the burnt area is on a different part of the body, other than the ‘face’.
Now, we get quite frequent ‘stares’ from passers-by too 🙂
ANyway, young children’s skin have very strong regenerative powers. You might find that after a period of time, you won’t even see any scars left if there were any in the 1st place!
Quite amazing.!
I’d just clean with some babyoil and some teatree oil for antiseptic (might be painful, so this one is up to you whether to use tea tree or not). And then I’d put lavendar – which is antiseptic and healing too. All not painful on an open wound.
Bagaimana lukanya Vai? Sudah membaik??Kalau ada luka pakai alkohol aja dulu jadi tidak infeksi baru pakai betadine biasanya gua begitu kalau Ian ada luka..Semoga bermanfaat.
Hi Siska, Claudia, Nic & Samantha:
Thanks all for your concerns! Really.
Sigh. I still feel GUILTY though for making such a silly move on Vai’s little scratch.
Though I didn’t know the after-effect of the ointment at the time, STILL it breaks my heart to see such a big ‘burnt scar’ on his nose. I know it won’t be there forever (I hope not!), but I think it’ll be around for at least 2 more weeks. Hope it won’t develop an infection or something too!
And for all other parents out there, if you’ve never applied Zam-buk on your child’s open wound / face area, please DON’T use it. I’m sharing this to you all so that it won’t happen to your little ones.
Oh Leonny, it’s not your fault. Don’t feel bad after the scabs fall off, Vai will be a handsome boy again. Hugz
Looks quite bad ya! Especially on baby’s tender skin! I use Zam-bak on Will b4 too but not on the face.
waaaaaaa……..kasian vai!!!!!!!! kok bisa jadi gedeeeeee banget gitu yah? waktu minggu ketemu not that bad kok?? well, hope you feel better soon!!!
iya deh, kayaknya mending pake savlon klu utk luka yg kaya gitu. gw cuma pake zambuk klu biru2 krn kejedok apa gitu. klu luka terbuka, savlon aja. tp anyway, vai gpp kan?