Skin Infection prevention

Killme00

Yo,


I'm looking to prevent the usual staph, impetigo etc. I'm trying to order either of the below but the cost of shipping to Ireland is ridiculous. For example if I order less than $30 from either site the cost of shipping is more than the cost of the product Does anyone know of similar products that are available here?

Up until now I've been using antiseptic wipes on scratches and then liberal doses of tcp when I get out of the shower at home. That has been working up until now but I think I may have a little infection at the moment (which I'll get confirmed later). What products do you guys use?

http://www.defensesoap.com/magshop/index.php/
http://www.athleticbodycare.com/

Thanks for any advice, comments etc

Clive

Dettol have a soap available, I'd be a bit worried if you're routinely getting scratched in training though.

Killme00

Clive wrote: »

Dettol have a soap available, I'd be a bit worried if you're routinely getting scratched in training though.

Thanks Clive. Its not an inordinate amount of scratches, just the usual along with some mat burn...but with the heat building up in the past few months i'm much more aware of bacteria and fungal infections than in the colder months.

MaeveD

We use SuperBodyCare soap, shower gel, walnut scrub and wipes... they are excellent and used by lots of the top grapplers in the US! Everyone we've sold them to seem to love the stuff

For more info http://superbodycare.com/index.html and we're on the list of resellers at the bottom.

You can buy them in the new shop at our school, cheapest bar of soap is only €1!

r_obric

you can buy tea tree oil soap in a lot of (if not all) health shops here, its much the same as defense soap and no need to be importing it

MaeveD

r_obric wrote: »

you can buy tea tree oil soap in a lot of (if not all) health shops here, its much the same as defense soap and no need to be importing it

I'm no expert, but I don't think tea tree is enough on it's own... I should have said that the SuperBodyCare soaps active ingredients are: Peppermint, Rosemary, Tea Tree, Lavender and Bergamot.

Doug Cartel

Nizoral anti-dandruff shampoo - you can use it as a shower gel once a week to help prevent fungal infections like staph. It won't do anything for bacteria though.

One thing that freaks me out when I hear about grappling in the US, is that when they say "staph", they're actually talking about MRSA! Apparently it's all over the place there.

EDIT: Of course if you can get special purpose grappling disinfectant shower gel, you'd probably be better off using that.

MarkFairman

Doug Staph is short for Staphylococcus, which is bacteria not fungus.

So you really need to be using somthing anti-bacterial and anti fungal

David Jones

Dettol soap is good as is the tea tree version.
You can also buy hibiscrub(the pink stuff) and dilute into your regular shower gel which also seems to keep anything at bay.

Doug Cartel

MarkFairman wrote: »

Doug Staph is short for Staphylococcus, which is bacteria not fungus.

So you really need to be using somthing anti-bacterial and anti fungal

Oh crap, you're right. Sorry about that. I was thinking of ringworm.

wayno

ray butcher has alot of good defense soap i get mine of him

MaeveD

wayno wrote: »

ray butcher has alot of good defense soap i get mine of him

Bloody cheek, you get it from me!!

Hope the new club is going well?

Killme00

MaeveD wrote: »

We use SuperBodyCare soap, shower gel, walnut scrub and wipes... they are excellent and used by lots of the top grapplers in the US! Everyone we've sold them to seem to love the stuff

For more info http://superbodycare.com/index.html and we're on the list of resellers at the bottom.

You can buy them in the new shop at our school, cheapest bar of soap is only €1!

Excelllent, Do you guys train on saturday in Clonshaugh? I could pop out and get some then?

Sid_Justice

Repeating a few things here but:

Wash with an antibacterial and an antifungal soap
Try and ensure your teammates do the same
Keep finger and toe nails short and blunt
Wash your suit/uniform/gear between every session

I've started wearing running tights/under armour/compression things underneath shorts and tshirts when training no-gi and currently looking for good quality not slip socks to train in. Generally trying to reduce bare skin as much as possible.

The pants really help reduce friction burns from wrestling on your knees, although these may have some side effects longer term.

Periodically wash your mats with dettol as well.

MaeveD

Yep we'll be here from 10.15am until 2.30pm (ish)

Those of you using hospital grade Hibiscrub, just a word of warning....its for surgical use and is way too strong for everyday use... it can also cause permanent damage if you get it in your eyes.

Barry.Oglesby

Having just come out of a staph infection, I've been fairly interested in this lately.

Here's the actual medical advice I got:

DON'T use antifungal or antiseptic soaps. Your skin is home to a lot of good bacteria which fights bad fungus, and good flora which fights bad bacteria. When you kill the flora you're more susceptible to bad bacteria, when you kill the bacteria you're more susceptible to the fungus! Lose lose!!!

DO scrub with a loofa or similar. Essentially, you're trying to remove the top layer of skin.... ugh. Store your loofa by hanging it, don't let it remain damp.

DON'T wear the same gear without washing it. If you must (there's not always enough time to turn around a gi before your next session for example) then make sure it has dried fully.

DO dress and tape all cuts and grazes before each training session, no matter how minor. Treat a mat burn like you'd treat a gash.

DON'T continue if you graze or cut yourself. Step off the mat, clean the area with an antisceptic wipe and dress it immediately.

Simple advice really if you think about it. When I asked the specialist in Beaumont what to do to avoid it he said "don't do what you do for a start" which I thought was funny. His actual advice was quite worrying. Basically he said that if you're sweating and rubbing (y'know, like grappling) you can get staph no matter what precautions you take, soap or wipe you use since staph is so prevalent on the body. Once you have an open wound you're taking your chances. When the swab from my leg came back positive for staph, he just shrugged and said he could probably swab me anywhere and find 10 things that could infect me. Em come to think of it he might just have been calling me a minger but I took it to mean open wound=bad. He had a different opinion on fungal infections, which he said by and large are caused by bad hygiene.

So from a doctor- don't use antisceptic or anti-fungal soap! Weird eh?

Bujinkan

Do you wear rash guards like Under Armour etc, This would help cut down on your mat/rash burn!!!