Opioids How to prevent bruising and scarring from IV use of drugs?

[Ayla Marie]

Someone once gave me a clear gel out of a tube that you put on right after and iv injection that helps stop bruising and scarring, does anyone know what it might have been or have any suggestions that might work?

 

[SUB SHOOTER 2010]

clean syringes and dont keep hitting the same spot over and over, best advice there

 

[Caspa]

• Brand new rig, every single time you shoot.
• Alcohol swabs before hand.
• Neosporn or something similar after shooting.
• Rotate, rotate, rotate.

I know a lot of people that IV that use cocoa butter on their injection site, and most of them, with a few exceptions all have pretty decent looking arms. most important thing would be to keep everything as clean and sterile as possible, using brand new rigs each and every time you slam, and rotating spots. don't keep hitting the same spot over and over. good way to end up with tracks, and you'll collapse your vein. and that would just be no beuno.

 

[ms4104]

Like the above person said...new pins. I can NOT stress this ENOUGH!!

Seriously.. you will not have to deal with scarring, at ALL if you rotate injection sites properly and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use a new pin. That means if you don't hit the vein on the 1st try, you get a new pin. Every single time it peirces the skin. You will see, your body heals perfectly from this. All you are left with is a tiny red spec which goes away totally.

Rotating sites is also very important. Let an injection site heal for at least 7 days before reusing it. And you should try and rotate as MANY possible sites into the rotation as possible

 

[effie]

• Brand new rig, every single time you shoot.
• Alcohol swabs before hand.
• Neosporn or something similar after shooting.
• Rotate, rotate, rotate.

I know a lot of people that IV that use cocoa butter on their injection site, and most of them, with a few exceptions all have pretty decent looking arms. most important thing would be to keep everything as clean and sterile as possible, using brand new rigs each and every time you slam, and rotating spots. don't keep hitting the same spot over and over. good way to end up with tracks, and you'll collapse your vein. and that would just be no beuno.

This this this!! New needles every single time and rotating are probably the most important to be honest - and a good technique. See injection complications megathread..

Some people swear by arnica to reduce bruising but I don't know if this actually works or not.

Also - in terms of alcohol swabbing, a quick swipe does nothing except move the bugs around your skin a bit. You need to rub it on for 30 seconds (I know, it feels like forever) then let it dry completely to kill the bacteria and help prevent things like bacterial endocarditis.

 

[ms4104]

This this this!! New needles every single time and rotating are probably the most important to be honest - and a good technique. See injection complications megathread..

Some people swear by arnica to reduce bruising but I don't know if this actually works or not.

Also - in terms of alcohol swabbing, a quick swipe does nothing except move the bugs around your skin a bit. You need to rub it on for 30 seconds (I know, it feels like forever) then let it dry completely to kill the bacteria and help prevent things like bacterial endocarditis.

Also you want to swab with the alcohol prior to injection. After you inject wiping with the soap wipe is all you need.. alcohol will actually prevent your blood from coagulating.

 

[effie]

^ definitely! It's completely useless and actually detrimental to swab after, the swabbing is pre-shot

 

[Kenny7822]

Vitamin E cream or a lotion with vitamin E in it works great.

 

[HomebrewChemist]

Iodine pads work too, most hospitals use iodine, then alcohol pads before injections or blood draws.
Putting light pressure on the sight, then bandaging with a salve like @Caspa suggested is helpful afterwards too.
Treat it like a legit medical procedure, because essentially, it is.

 

[tyrael]

Firstly multiple agreements to most of the above plus a few more!

....
Treat it like a legit medical procedure, because essentially, it is.

It should be, always! Coming from IV/IM use recreationally and then formally learning the correct techniques, I shudder sometimes with what I see some people do! And honestly they're not even things which a "normal user" would think of being pedantic.

Ah well, it's their body I guess.

Also - in terms of alcohol swabbing, a quick swipe does nothing except move the bugs around your skin a bit. You need to rub it on for 30 seconds (I know, it feels like forever) then let it dry completely to kill the bacteria and help prevent things like bacterial endocarditis.

Good link effie, love it! Just a minor thing to add when using swabs, don't use the same action as you use to say clean your car - don't wipe around in circles, straight, vertical lines and not only say down the vein line, around the injection site too!


Play safe.

 

[THC2LSD]

Best way to reduce scarring and damage is to use a fresh needle everytime and rotate the injection sites.

Some drugs like black tar heroin seem to be bad with scarring.

I've heard of shark oil to reduce scarring, but who knows, could just be snake oil.

 

[Ayla Marie]

thx guys much appreciated

 

[hitthescene]

best solution I have found besides the regular norm (swabs, new rigs, etc) is a product in canada called polysporin scar treatment it is a clear gel and it works miracles!!! make sure you get the clear gel because there is also a polysporin scar treatment that is a white paste which is not as good imo.

 

[Tchort]

My personal experience involved cleaning the injection area with soap and water before injecting (after the shot is made and ready to go), then dry it with a clean towel, tie off with the tourniquet, alcohol swab the intended injection area, inject with proper technique and a clean needle (i.e. don't 'stab' yourself with it, don't move the needle around much while it's in your body, and remove the needle from the vein slowly and at the same angle it went in, etc). After the injection, my personal quirk was to have a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide handy that I would then rub the injection area with (you'll hear it 'bubbling/hissing' when it contacts the blood from the injection site), then apply neosporin (or equivalent), then gauze and medical tape or a bandaid. Most of this post is redundant, and I'm sure other people will interject about using the hydrogen peroxide. It was simply a quirk with the group of people I used with so I did it as well. Vitamin E lotion or cream is also good once the site has formed a scab or has begun to heal (it will help with any amount of bruising or scarring that might've occurred or might occur). This process followed by using new needles everytime and rotating injection spots worked great for me.

I was almost accused of being a liar when I finally went into MMT. Part of the process is checking your arms and legs or areas you volunteer that you inject into for inspection. The nurse practitioner couldn't find physical evidence that I was an IV heroin addict, despite going on a 10 day binge of daily injections of heroin and various pills- all she found were the 2 tiny red dots from the heroin and dilaudid injections I had given myself the night before (less than 9 hours earlier) one on each hand. After explaining what I had done (as I did above) her attitude completely changed and welcomed me into the program.

But everyone is different. Vitamin E cream is pretty weird in that it can work wonders for some people but do nothing in others. Finding a system that works for you (anti-bacterial soap, using hydrogen peroxide or not, washing the injection site with soap and water and drying it with a clean towel/papertowel before injecting, changing your injection technique, rotating spots more often, etc etc etc) is what matters- but it can be done. You certainly can prevent and fix most injection related brusing and scarring and various other injuries obvious to other people.*

*Caveat: Longterm irresponsible or poor technique, untreated abscesses and scar tissue, etc is an area I know nothing about and I would imagine most of whats written in this thread applies to someone trying to be proactive rather than reactive. Though BL is certainly the place to find out how to heal, remove, minimize, etc external and internal damage from a longerm or unhygienic needle habit. Not that these things make a person 'bad', only that the situation they are in has a deleterious effect on their daily life- whether it's people staring and acting judgemental, people asking questions, uncomfortable conversations with healthcare professionals and providers, etc.

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

I think it's all been covered already, but I'll at my 2p just to back everyone up. In an ideal world:

New hypodermic needle every time you break the skin
Use the highest possible gauge needle that is appropriate
Rotate injection sites
Clean site before and after injection
Don't miss the vein (if you are concerned that it is not perfect as you are pushing down the plunger, just do a quick re-register and then finish)


I don't think there are many junkies who can claim to stick to this regime. It's really quite shameful the state of some of the syringes I've used when they are so easily available to me.

 

[Vaya]

Vitamin E cream or a lotion with vitamin E in it works great.

Aside from all the other great and relevant advice, THIS, THIS THIS!!!

"Scarzone," "Neosporin," etc. did little to help reduce markings for me, even with fresh rigs, alternating injection sites, proper technique, etc. Yet, vitamin E rubbed twice daily on the fresh marks would have them utterly gone within two days. I recommend it for pimples, cuts, IV marks, anything; it's one of the best natural antioxidants out there. What I do is buy the Vitamin E 400 IU gels supplements and pop the tip of the gel with a pin and squeeze out a small portion of the oily contents onto the wound, rub it in and let it dry.

You'll be astounded.

~ vaya

 

[John_Burrows]

I know you're not going to like this, but do a damn search. So far all your threads are asking Pretty basic questions that already have a ton of threads. Next time you send me a nasty email swearing that you're doing a ton of research, don't make it so obvious that you're NOT.

Anyway, while the idea of using a new needle for every poke is a wonderful one, I'd get rich if I had a dollar for every IV user who DIDN'T follow that advice. Maybe if you're shooting once or twice a day, but again that's a pipe dream too! So unless you're super anal and diligent (which you're not), chances are you won't have 500 syringes laying around (on the other hand, if you want to be really good, go and order 500 online right now).

If you don't heed those words, the fact is most people are going to use the same syringe for more than one pop. I was IVing dilaudid for a year and shooting 5 times a day. BUT, each time I shot, I'd break up my meds into a few smaller shots and space them out over a few hours, so really I was jamming it closer to 10 or 12 times a day.

For a year.

Surprisingly, my arms don't look like a teenager's face. I always used a fresh, thin needle for every "session," but once I broke the skin more than 5 times I'd switch to a new one (and I'd still go through 20-30 a week). Always use alcohol wipes to prep, get good at registering and ointments like Neosporin and vitamin E do help a lot.

But almost as important as clean, fresh rigs is keeping the number of pokes to A MINIMUM. This means rotating sites and getting good at registering on the first try. Nothing sucks more than jabbing a needle into your arm over and over and not hitting. However, there are really good techniques for getting those veins to play ball.

Just do a thread title search for registering and you'll get lots of good advice - much more than if you start a new thread. Why? Because there are people (like me) who have typed the same answers to the same questions many times and they just might not be in the mood to do it AGAIN. Plus many good users come and go from the site, so a lot of smart people with great advice aren't here anymore to see your thread.

But you can still reap the rewards of their excellent advice by searching and reading the posts about registering any many other life saving topics from years present AND past...

 

[ms4104]

Seriously...since I started using a new pin every time it really has saved my veins. I am over weight and only rotate like 6 injection sites. And ill do a solid 10 shots a day a lot of times.. my shits still goin strong!! And using a new pin serioulsy I never get bruising and shit and painful injections. its all heaven

 

[ms4104]

Well comming from someone who has bruises almost everytime, and has scar tissue beginning to layer on her veins....first let tell you what not to do!!! i am guilty of this, and this is why i scar


DO NOT KEEP POKING!!!!
if you dont get it the 5th time take a serious break like an hour or so, drink fluids, this will help hydrate your veins


if you dont see the blood initially please pleae dont spend more than a minute or two readjusting!!!

Use a fresh needle every time you inject, i saw these crazy pics of a needle under a microscope and what they look like before they are ever poke, what they look like after one poke, and what they look like after thre...wowzaaa seriously

EVERYONE WHO USES DRUGS IV SHOULD SEE THAT PICTURE

But on the real, if its taking you 5+ tries to even LOCATE vein and register.. quit now while your ahead. Take it as a sign IVing was not meant for you

 

[Sex Panther]

But on the real, if its taking you 5+ tries to even LOCATE vein and register.. quit now while your ahead. Take it as a sign IVing was not meant for you

fuck man, i just went through that with a fuck-off-wide gauge syringe, which was blunt as FUCK.

fuckin amphetamines, that compulsion to redose is the devil.