Friday 2 July 2010

Driclor is an effective treatment for shaving cuts

I have already blogged about the totally-effective antiperspirant sold under the trade name of Driclor - but this remarkable substance has another use, which my wife heard about on 'doctors' net' - a UK forum restricted to qualified physicians.

Driclor can stop bleeding - presumably by drying rapidly (in a few seconds) to form a transparent coating and block the blood flow.

It works very well for facial shaving cuts. Although pretty painless, these razer accidents are usually very difficult to stop bleeding, even when small - since they are sliced skin; and when skin is cleanly sliced (rather than torn or crushed) it does not release the various chemicals which assist in blood coagulation.

A shaving cut is usually a thin slice off the top of a protruberance like the chin - leaving a raw patch of oozing dermis; or a linear slice caused by the razer slipping sideways. These linear slices in particular often well-out drops of blood in an annoying way.

The traditional answer is to put a scrap of tissue paper onto the cut and leave it there until the blood has coagulated (maybe 10 minutes). But if the cut is one of those linear slices, then the tissue will often become sodden with blood and fall off onto your shirt - aaargh!

The other alternative is to stick an elastoplast/ band-aid on the bleeding area - which does rather attract the eye...

But, if one dabs the bleeding area dry, then immediately applies Driclor to the graze, slice or cut (it comes from a roller ball applicator - so you need rapidly to take some Driclor on a finger tip, and very quickly smear it over the bleeding area), it will usually dry instantly to form an invisible layer and will stop the bleeding.

I do not (ahem...) have any direct experience of the matter - but would I imagine that Driclor would be equally useful at stopping bleeding spots caused by shaving of the legs, as well as the face.

All that can be seen is the shape of the wound with a little surface oozing; and the invisible Driclor 'shell' is slightly shiny, so the result is not absolutely perfect cosmetically.

Still, it is a tremendous improvement on the alternative. To (almost) quote a famous English policeman of the 1970s - 'I am convinced that Driclor is a major contribution to road safety'.