being kiting a fair bit in the swan river over the last few months and been getting a fair few cuts on my feet from rocks/shells. nothing major was cleaning them with betadine and no problems. cut myself last wednesday on a mussel bed went home had a shower and didnt clean my foot. next day headed up to kalbarri camping for easter that afternoon my foot started throbbing. to my surprise there was a red line working up my veins so obviously infected. didnt go to doctors for four days now on antibiotics and out of the water for a few days. if only i hadnt got lazy and cleaned it or even gone to the doctor earlier. anyway my cut has healed but the infection is still there. bummer
Yea, learn the hard way bud...you really got to get out every little bit of sea crap from your bod.
Spray on band aid is very useful to have around, because you almost always pick up some thingy or another.
Just a note that betadine or anything with iodine in it is a no no for live coral cuts or anything looking like its alive,just incase there is a bit of coral etc left in the cut because it thrives on the iodine so continues to grow and infect,best thing for these cuts is lemon/lime juice or peroxide to wash it out
Here is a thought for you. If i remember correctly around 10 people a year die at the great lakes in USA from Oyster Shell Septicemia and it has about a 40% mortality rate. Washing cuts is not something that should be an option when it comes to the sea, the bacteria is more dangerous than most people think.
A mate of is a Doctor and he got me on to this stuff called "Bactrabane"
You needa perscription for it because it has antibiotics in it.
This cream is magic! it will heal the most nasty wounds in days.
It also works wonders and stops any fresh cuts becoming infected if you are going to continue to go into the ocean after a cut or graze.
It is a MUST if you are going on a trip and or for the batroom cabnet at home.
I always thought betadine was the best but I now know its not.Betadine is to strong and will not allow the wound to heal.
Get yourself some of this stuff and get back out in the water.
Cheers
Luke
i learnt the hard way. little graze. turned into a nice sea alser 
that took about a month and a half to heal, still a nice hole in my left from the scar
the hard (and scary) way for me too
The slightest graze from a nasty bit of coral at Exmouth. Just a small red itchy spot on my knee that didnt even look like broken skin.
Two days later was the first of seven days bed rest in Exmouth hospital being monitored on some seriously serious antibiotics. They had 3 treatment options for the particular infection I had 'caught'.
1) the antibiotic I was put on first. Hugely expensive, canberra approval etc etc
2) one other even more serious & costlier antibiotic
then
3) amputation from the hip. 
I kid you not - thats for real.
And its not all that uncommon in tropical reef areas.
A simple washdown with peroxide or disinfectant on the day would (almost certainly) have prevented any problem at all.
I know this from experience as well. Little cut turned into a bacterial skin infection which needed antibiotics to heal. Now I have a weak spot on my leg that is more prone to sunburn and cancer and have to cover my legs when kiting.
And if you are going to kite a real lot, then get rid of the friggen straps. All that rubbing eventually opens a wound and then all your troubles really begin.
hell yes.
Took a jump over easter. Landed real hard & jammed my foot into the strap & managed to cut my foot.
Of course, spending hours in the water for 4 straight days didn't help much...then, putting on shoes & socks for 4 days keeps the sore nice & moist.
Kite for 3-4 hrs over the w/end just gone, the sore is nice & spongy again. Shoes & socks today, the whole process starts all over again...
great work.
went to doctor today cause glands in groin area were a bit sore. turns out i was just being paranoid( probably from reading the replies) and all is good. just a few more days out of the water and all should be cool.
not to keen on the booties idea but i seem to cut myself all the time
by the way when i was in kalbarri at jakes copt a nice pounding on the rocks going in and ended up bruising the ankle on the same foot as infection.
on another note if you ever kite in the river mouth at kalbarri watch out for the crab pots( floating bottles) got board caught in one, face planted, then somehow one of the steering lines wrapped itself around the neck of the plastic bottle the kite wanted to loop at full power had to use safety and self rescue.
I get cuts all the time, and never even think about rinsing them with fresh water. I've surfed a few days after getting stitches put into the sole of my foot. They kept almost falling out of soggy skin (lucky for duck tape). And nothing. I lucky have never had an encounter with coral, as puppets said, it can do nasty stuff.
You're all just soft
If you have coral/sea urchin/other spiky demon in a body part, I'veheard melting wax over it, let it harden and it will come out easily. Wax is hot but not unbearable, and would beat having to pick stuff out with fingers etc.
A good (but creepy) treatment for Sea urchins - piss on 'em.
Or better still, soak you foot in a bucket of it.
Koori bloke told me about it and it works a treat - if you soak them they pop out way easier and don't ever seem to get really infected.
First day on surf holiday slashed a 5cm gash my foot on a rock at Currumbin Alley - the cut would reopen with every step. Heard about supergluing football injuries so gave it a good scrub out with all kinds of disinfectant and glued it back up. No problem then. Was sore for a few days but the end of the week I was tearing up the Flowrider!
Now I wouldn't recommend this for everyone and will admit we used some small degree of skill to stick it shut using outer skin layers only and glued on stiching but it worked for me. Took ages after to heal properly tho..
The latest info on wound management is to wash it very thoroughly with clean tap water. "Wash" means to irrigate it very thoroughly and get all the crap out of the wound.
Then apply one of the new (and expensive) water proof wound dressings (Op-Site, Duo Derm or Cutifilm ). Then just leave the dressing on for a week or so.
The wound is kept clean but moist so the tissue can grow back faster. It is much more effective than letting a scab form.
You don't use Betadine or antiseptic because that damages the growing tissue as well as killing the bugs.
It is ok to use sterilised water but you have to use heaps. Tap water is fine in most civilised countries.
If it is a weeping wound then use one of the gel-based dressings that absorb gunk.
This method works really well. With the transparent dressings you can visibly see the skin grow back from day to day. The other good thing is you can go kiting with the water proof dressing in place.
