Dan Steinberg, in DC Sports Bog, notes that Tom Poti has one of those injuries that doesn't hide itself well, as do sprains, strains, and the like.
Black eyes.
Having the memory of suffering this malady from time to time ourselves, we thought we'd do a little research on the matter and see just what one does to treat the affliction. Poti noted that ""You've just kind of got to let it run its course. Usually it starts black, and then turns blue, and then yellowish greenish, and then it goes away." But what do the experts say?
According to the Mayo Clinic, one should take care of the injury by "using gentle pressure, apply a cold pack or a cloth filled with ice to the area around the eye. Take care not to press on the eye itself. Apply cold as soon as possible after the injury to reduce swelling, and continue using ice or cold packs for 24 to 48 hours. Be sure there's no blood within the white and colored parts of the eye."
The online site, WebMD suggests that for self-care at home...
- Ice helps to decrease swelling by constricting blood vessels, by decreasing fluid accumulation, and by cooling and numbing the area.
- Apply ice for 20 minutes an hour every hour while awake, for the first 24 hours. Ice should not be applied directly to the injury.
- To avoid potential cold injury to the site, wrap the ice in a cloth or use a commercial ice pack. A bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a cloth makes a good ice pack.
- Protect the area from further injury. Stay away from athletic or other possibly injurious activities until after the eye has healed.
- Forget the old adage about putting a steak or a piece of raw meat on a black eye. No scientific evidence supports this claim. In addition, there is a danger in putting potentially bacteria-laden meat on a mucous membrane or an open skin injury.
Interesting...vegetables, but no meat. Wonder if brussels sprouts work better than peas and carrots.
We also came across remedies that included some truly strange applicatons...
- Using the back of a spoon to dissipate the blood (didn't say if it was a teaspoon or a tablespoon...guess that depends on the size of the bruise)
- Eating pineapple or papaya (something about an enzyme, but we're thinking this is a ruse by the tropical fruit lobby)
- Witch Hazel
- "restful sleep' (we think this was in a Tempur-Pedic mattress ad once)
- A mixture of 1 part cayenne pepper and 5 parts melted Vaseline, to be mixed and cooled, then applied once a day.
- A tea made with confrey root or buchu, in which a rag is then soaked and applied to the bruised area
Of course, if you can't get to the grocery store for frozen peas or to your neighborhood health foods store for confrey root, there's always the old school remedy...
...leeches.
No comments:
Post a Comment