My arm is raw!

[cherpep]

I have been on home dialysis for about 1 month now.  With the daily dialysis, the skin on my arm is taking a beating!!  It is always itchy in the area, red, and irritated.  My nurse is looking to find different cleansing wipes for me to use, he thinks the ones I have might be too strong. Since the irritation started in the shape of the bandaid, I changed bandage types.  But, the irritation continues and it burns whenever I clean the area prior to the needles, and the tape just makes it worse.  I have tried applying different things to my arm in the morning & after dialysis - Vaseline, Lubriderm lotion, Cortizone cream, and other lotions for dry skin.  It continues to be raw, even seems to be getting worse.  I don't scratch, even though I'm aching to.  But, the burning - YIKES!  I feel like the only way I can get relief right now is to cut the arm off.  The doctor says it doesn't look like it's infected.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Any suggestions?

[twirl]

my arms looks like I'm a drug addict
and I have had people insinuate that
they gave us some lotion as a sample for Christmas and it helped
I could ask my social worker the brand name
do you do dialysis everyday and for how long
or is it when you sleep
who sticks you
I hope your arm gets better
this is a hard life and I'm so tired of it
almost did not go to treatment today
I will get the name of the lotion and let you know
hang in there

[KR Cincy]

I've been on home hemo for 10 months now, and it took awhile for my arm to get used to the abuse....scrubbing, alcohol pads, betadine, paper tape, plastic tape, bandaids...but mine did get better. It still itches now and then...sometimes more than others...but I don't have the bandaid shaped rashes anymore. When my sites are nice and closed, I smear my arm with lotion and my wife (who hooks me up) is being more confined in her use of betadine...not swabbing it all over my arm, just concentrated around the stick sites. I think that's helped too. I'm also using Ivory soap in the shower and only using antibacterial soap when I wash my arm before treatment...someone said the antibacterial stuff can also dry out the skin.

[silverhead]

I also use a very small area for the Betadine, when I remove the paper tape holding the needles in place, it comes loose pretty easy from the bare skin, but pulls VERY hard when it encounters the Betadine, You might ask your Nurse if she can get you some 3M
Medipore tape, it is a perforated fabric tape that works really excellent for Sharon's dressing on her back.
It has helped her to leave her "pressure band-aids" in place for only a couple of hours, she then replaces them with a regular fabric band-aid with a good amount of antibacterial salve on the pad, this helps ease the puncture area and she has no scab to remove the next day......
Tom

[jbeany]

Keep experimenting with different tape and band-aids.  I like the silk stuff - everything else makes my skin peel.    Same for the bandaids.  The ones I get from Fresenious work fine, everything else rips me up.

[Sluff]

Hope you find the answer soon. That sounds aweful.

[boxman55]

as far as band aids I like the Sure-Seals you can order them off the internet. They are not cheap though. $16.00 for a box of 100...Boxman

[Russ]

My clinic provides sure-seals with my NxStage supplies. Paper tape bothers my skin so I use plastic tape during treatment.  You may want to consider not using a bandage at all after treatment.  I've seen many patients do this.

I take off my sure-seals as soon as I feel there is no chance of a leak.  I've never had a leak after my initial hold period but some folks may pop leaks more easily, everyone is different.

I also use chloraprep swabs instead of betadine. 

[Roadrunner]

Talk to your neph.
Not everyone uses betadine.  Try doing it without it.

My husband just washes his arm with a antibacterial soap before dialysis.  Before I put in the needles I wipe his buttonholes with alcohol pads.  We use paper tape which he had lots of trouble with when we first started.  The tape seemed to become part of his skin and I would irritate his skin trying to remove the tape.  We had a nurse that folded one end of the tape under 1/8" so that you could lift it easily when it came time to remove it.  This made all the difference.  It was as if we were using a different bandage entirely.  My husband loved it since he could remove the tape himself, and I loved it because I could do it so easily, even with gloves on.

[willieandwinnie]

We did exactly what Roadrunner says. Len would wash his arm real good with anti-bacterial soap and then I would just wipe with alcohol pad and stick him. Len has a terrible problems with any kind of tape except paper. Everyone is different and you might have to try a few until you find what works best for you. Good Luck, we're here if you need us.

[mark m]

I had a problem with the tape when I started 2 mo. ago and my nurse switched me over to t a tape called 'kendall tenderskin'. The old tape 'micropore' would rip skin off and leave big scabs. My arm is now only mildly red and it feels 100 better and the tenderskin also leaves less goop on my arm.
Good luck,

-Mark.

[skyedogrocks]

Rob has very hairy arms and each night on dialysis more and more of it gets ripped off.  That hurts more to him than anything else.

I had a problem with the tape when I started 2 mo. ago and my nurse switched me over to t a tape called 'kendall tenderskin'. The old tape 'micropore' would rip skin off and leave big scabs. My arm is now only mildly red and it feels 100 better and the tenderskin also leaves less goop on my arm.
Good luck,

-Mark.

I'm really interested in this for Rob, can you let us know more about the tape?  Is it paper or plastic?

[mark m]

It is a paper tape that seems to be less sticky than the 3M Micropore paper tape. http://www.bestlabdeals.com/Paper_Tape_p/50794.htm This is just the first website that came up doing a Google search. I get mine from my clinic.

It has helped my arm feel better, I had tried different bandaids with no help, some of them made it worse. The longer you leave the tape on the more it sticks to the skin so taking off the tape after the recommended 2 hours might help as well. My nurse told me it has to be on for 2 to 4 hours for the proper clotting to take place.

-Mark.