Main reason I stopped diving or entering water is skin eating bacteria

[Storker]

Hibiclens is chlorhexidine.

*penny drop*

Some time aeons ago, I was to undergo planned surgery, and I got a prescription for some stuff I was supposed to wash with before showing up. And after the surgery. I do remember that it was chlorhexidine, but now I remember that the brand was Hibiclens.

Over here, the over-the-counter stuff sold without a prescription for wound cleaning is some other brand, but the main thing is what the active component is. And its concentration.

 

[The Chairman]

PSD is Public Safety Diver who will stir up the bottom while looking for stuff

Are you a Public Safety Cave Diver, Chris??? (Just blame the drugs)

 

[agilis]

wow that's terrible leg breakage, been there done that it's a very long healing process to regain leg strength. you my friend are lucky it's just one leg. good luck w/ the therapy and do all the prescribed exercises, did the Dr. tell you you will have to learn to walk allover he's not joking..

I don't have any more phobia than the next Guy except for the sea snake which I have sean many times, basically I'm concerned about the unavoidable small fly bites morphing into a amputated limb or limbs.

There are no sea snakes in the Atlantic Ocean or in the Caribbean Sea. Zero. Absolutely none. Some people mistake certain eels, like the Spotted Snake Eel, for a sea snake, but this is wrong. They are fish. I've never heard of fly bites morphing into amputated limbs. I think most amputations in this country are the result of diabetes, so do your best to avoid sugar.

 

[tursiops]

sea snakes too? unless you catch and handle one, they ignore divers

He's not going to find a lot of those off Florida.

 

[txgoose]

inviting swarms of minnows to attack.

I was going to feel awkward for teaching the Chairman about cleaner wrasse. But then I remembered he moved up N to the land of fresh fresh water wrasse, also known as minnows.

(For the humor impaired, yes I understand Mr C’s approximate bottom time/pedigree.)

 

[Steelyeyes]

Except that elemental chlorine is gaseous and thus much harder on the lungs than iodine (when chlorine was used as a chemical weapon during WW1, it was a lung gas), it isn't so much more dangerous than iodine. Those elements are very closely related. Also, to pick nits Clorox doesn't really contain chlorine, it contains sodium hypochlorite. I'd worry more about the alkalinity.


No. Straight 3% peroxide from the pharmacy or, preferably, medical chlorhexidine wash for wound care and pre-op sterilization. The latter is pretty effective and doesn't sting at all.

But seriously, I think there's about two million things more worthy of concern than the risk of necrotising fasciitis. In everything in life you got to play the odds, and those odds are longer than most of the other.

My son contracted necrotising fasciitis once. He was working in a sewage tank on the USS Abraham Lincoln. He got a few scratches and the next thing you know a full blown infection. They did surgery on him at sea to remove about a palm sized piece near his left knee. A week or so on IV antibiotics and he was good to go.

I think the odds of finding that microbe in water most of us want to swim in is approaching zero.

 

[Steelyeyes]

He's not going to find a lot of those off Florida.

We ran into lots of banded sea kraits in the Banda Sea. They eat fish. They are totally non aggressive and their mouth is so small even getting bitten after you've wrestled one long enough to make it want to protect itself is just not gonna happen. Also they do not live anywhere near Florida.

 

[flyboy08]

Main reason I stopped diving or entering water is skin eating bacteria.plus I have limited fresh water for showering that will be increased soon.
Never ever ride the NYC subway system

As a kid I thought the saltwater would accelerate the healing process of a cut in the skin.


Now as a middle aged adult (novis diver) I’m very leery of entering (or even washing hands ) the saltwater in fear of skin eating bacteria (especially in brackish water) I think it’s referred to as VIBRIO.



Besides the average normal cut in skin. The main cause of breakage of skin is the Florida state bird these flys attack anything that moves are taken chunks of skin while sucking my blood then to add to these bites is the scratching which creates even more breaks in skin.


These flies have ruined a few expeditions even 20 miles offshore, I’m thinking where did these devils come from.


I have ordered 2 bottles of Avon skin so soft hopefully these carnivorous flys will go eat something else, they usually don’t enter the cabin however I have felt like a prisoner on my own vessel.


My first aid kit is basically iodine and ducktape, is Clorox safe to disinfect cuts or should I stick to iodine or use both?

Florida’s tourism department doesn’t publish red tide or fly reports.I’m thinking they hus up about skin eating bacteria even more so, come to florida just don't go in the water.

it's actually illegal to throw a fish carcass w/in a certain distance from a boat launch however carcass's are always there. I'm convinced that the flys at the ramp follow me way offshore.

Thanks for any tips on keeping healthy.STB

Never ever ride the NYC subway system

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

Well i have to argue that the black and white banded sea snake does live in florida, at least one does. I came head on face to face with one in the Rainbow River a few years back (yes, a fresh water river). I just moved to the side and swished it away with water using my hands.

 

[happy-diver]

wow that's terrible leg breakage, been there done that it's a very long healing process to regain leg strength. you my friend are lucky it's just one leg. good luck w/ the therapy and do all the prescribed exercises, did the Dr. tell you you will have to learn to walk allover he's not joking..

good to see you've found a purpose