Aloe Vera Health Story - Recovery following an Accident in the Workshop
Using Aloe Vera to heal an accident in the workshop.One Sunday I was sawing some wood in my workshop. Unfortunately the saw jumped and I was in mid-push when my thumb got in the way. The saw exacted its ounce of flesh and was only stopped when the jagged teeth scraped across my thumbnail. It could have been so much, much worse, but thankfully I managed to stop the saw and remove my thumb from its super-hardened teeth.
After washing out the cut under the tap and pulling out the long strands of fatty tissue, I soaked it in surgical spirit to cleanse the cut, and then soaked it in tea tree oil for a few minutes, before binding it up to stop the bleeding.
I like to keep cuts open to dry in the air but several times a day I rub in aloe gel, letting it dry in situ. I also use surgical gloves and cut the fingers off, and taped them over my thumb when there is a chance it will get wet or I am working (see photo). Here is a series of photo's from the following few days as my thumb healed.
Just look at the original damage, the cut was pretty deep, so wasn't going to heal in a hurry under normal circumstances. Following the 1st stage of treatment outlined above, I only use aloe gel to heal the skin. I'm amazed how quickly this happens.
Day 1 Sterilized, cleaned out sawdust, stopped bleeding [still have thumb!!] | Day 2 Settled nicely following initial clean up, no pain or anything | Day 4 Some crusting and scabbing over of the cut ends |
Day 7 Covered for working or to allow aloe gel to soak in | Day 9 Evidence of the large flap of skin and depth of original cut | Day 11 Old skin is pushed up by the tissue healing below |
Day 13 Top layer sacrificed to expansion below, now just used as protection | Day 15 Trimmed back with scissors to reveal replacement skin below | Day 16 Top layers forming scar tissue can now begin to close over |
Day 18 Bridging the gap with good, new skin, strong and usable | Day 20 Almost there, nail damage now worse than the cut | Day 24 Scabs all gone, skin grown over. 2mths later scar all gone |
I can't exactly remember when this happened, but it was sometime in the early spring of 2015. We are now summer 2015 and I can confirm that the scar is nonexistent and the nail has grown out. I would take a photo and show you, but right now my nail is stained with green enamel paint (not good for a therapist to have painty hands (or cut ones come to that)), following a little repair job, but when it's clean, and if I remember, I'll put the evidence right here and show you.
UPDATE: When I first put this article up I promised you a thumb picture when it had fully healed. Here it is; With NO SCAR!! I've even made it big so you can see clearly. Good old Aloe Vera.
Also, if you want more proof, stick around, I'll probably cut myself again fairly soon. Seems I'm a bit accident prone lately; probably an age thing. Perhaps I should leave it to the younger ones from now on. Anyway, whatever your level of accident frequency, I hope you have as good healing results as I do with your Aloe plant. At least you'll have something to teach your kids. And who knows, as the NHS crumbles to oblivion and croaks its last breath, your Aloe may be the only thing you have left to rely on.
Want a plant at home in case of problems like this? Order from here and I'll send you my finest specimen
