How To Treat Reef Cuts

You’re first step for any kind of cut, reef or otherwise, is to irrigate, loosening and removing any foriegn debris from the wound. Since the tap water in Indonesia is not clean use bottled water to first irrigate your wound flushing out as much foreign debris as you can. Save the saline solution for last unless you have a large supply of it.

Using an irrigation syringe irrigate the wound further for an extended period of time washing out as much bacteria as you can. Then clean around the wound with soap wipes.

Coral contains a range of very nasty and unusual bacteria and toxins. Tiny coral cysts enter the wound and get embedded in tissue to not only cause wound healing delay, but pain and recurrent swelling for a long time. So naturally the first major rule is thorough, extended cleaning. The longer the better! Don’t do what we have seen a million times: “Oh, that’ll do mate.” No it probably won’t. Do it again, thoroughly.

Use tweezers (first sterilise the tweezers with alcohol wipes) to remove any foreign debris from the wound that still appear after washing. It is important to get any remains of the reef or coral dust out of the wound as mentioned above. 

Take your time doing this as thoroughly as possible, removing any dead skin with sterile equipment along the way. It is a major step to speeding up the healing process. 

We can’t stress this enough, do it right the first time, because once the swelling and infection sets in, it becomes increasingly difficult to remove foreign objects.

Use the razor to shave any hair around the wound in preparation for covering the wound. This greatly enhances how well any adhesive bandages stick to the skin, keeping the wound cleaner for longer and speeding up the healing process.

Fill the irrigation syringe with saline solution or simply use saline solution straight from the bottle and rinse the wound while lightly cleaning with a wound cleaning sponge.

Clean, dry and degrease the area around the wound with alcohol wipes. This not only rids of bacteria but dries the skin for applying an adhesive stretch dressing.

Treat the wound with a triple antibiotic ointment ensuring any remaining bacteria from the cleaning or debriding process doesn’t take root in your injury, preventing infection and assisting in relieving pain and inflammation.   

While commonly used antiseptics such as lime, hydrogen peroxide, iodine or rubbing alcohol into the wound does work to kill bacteria it also damages the tissue, irritates the wound and delays the healing process.

Use Hemostatic Gauze to control any remaining bleeding and active the blood clotting system. With scissors cut and shape the hemostatic gauze to shape to match the wound and apply directly to the wound with pressure.

Hemostatic gauze is commonly used by armed forces and hospitals to address gunshot wounds. When the Hemostatic Gauze contacts with the wound it quickly transforms into a stiff gel, filling the wound, sealing capillary ends and activating the blood clotting system saving you days or weeks of recovery time.

Prepare an adhesive stretch dressing by cutting it to the length you need, then cutting it to the desired shape and apply it directly over the top of the wound and/or hemostatic gauze when the area around your wound is completely dry. 

Hot tip: round the corners of the dressing with scissors so there are no corners that may start to peel back off the skin.

Raise the limb. Swelling, even if you can’t see it, can delay healing, especially in areas of poor circulation. Keep your arm or leg up to the level of your heart or higher in the first few hours.

This is indicated by red spreading edges around the wound which can lead to fever, severe illness and even death. If you see this, you need urgent medical help. Do not delay even if you are in a remote place — you will need antibiotics or change to a different antibiotic if you are on one already. Get some medical advice even if it’s on the phone to work out which antibiotic is best and assess your condition if you’re getting ill and febrile.

Seek urgent medical attention if…

1. The wound is large or deep.
2. The edges of the wound do not stay together.
3. It is not possible to clean the wound properly or remove all debris. 
4. Symptoms of infection occur (fever, increasing pain or redness, or discharge from the wound).
5. If blood is spurting from the wound or if applying pressure to the wound does not stop the bleeding!

Reef cuts can be challenging to treat, which is why you should exert effort to avoid such wounds whenever possible. This is especially important if you’re fond of spending time at the beach and in the surf.

If you like to explore reefs when you’re not surfing investing in and wearing some water aerobic shoes is one way of avoiding reef cuts out of the surf in the future. Wearing a dive suit and maintaining a respectful distance from the reefs can also help whenever possible.