Scabs - who can resist them?

I could see the inevitable when I got halfway down the hill: going too fast to make the bend at the bottom, couldn't get enough grip on the tyres to slow down. Apparently I was roaring with laughter as the bike and I cartwheeled round the bend.What fun.

So my left kneecap had lost most of the top layer of skin. Ten days later and there's a healthy size scab there. Vivid red at the edges and shrinking fast. Also irresistibly itchy, and I'm appalled to find that even at my advanced age(nearly 60) I still want to pick at it!

Wiki has a good article on skin repair, which says Old Age can inhibit or completely stop skin regeneration. That's a bit worrying - does anyone on OM know when Old Age might kick in here? We all pick up a few scrapes when we're out having fun. It would be daunting to find out those scrapes are not going to repair.

Dunno, Grumps, my mum's 76 and has very thin skin that takes a very long time to repair. This has been the case since she turned 70 at least.

Have a little self-discipline. Leave the damned thing alone and let it fall off in its own time. You know the saying - if you pick it, it'll never heal!

Of course I know the saying - don't I tell my Scouts that all the time? But my fingers just seem to find their way back to it all the time. Perhaps mitts would help.

So that airmail-paper skin can start at 70? Bloody hell - that'll put a crimp on things.

BTW - that spill put a stop to my Snowdon visit last week. Unreliable knee plus 70 mph winds equals no Crib Goch.

Grumps wrote (see)

Of course I know the saying - don't I tell my Scouts that all the time? But my fingers just seem to find their way back to it all the time. Perhaps mitts would help.

Wear long trousers instead of those Scoutmaster shorts and you won't be able to pick at it.

Jake wrote (see)

Grumps wrote (see)

Of course I know the saying - don't I tell my Scouts that all the time? But my fingers just seem to find their way back to it all the time. Perhaps mitts would help.

Wear long trousers instead of those Scoutmaster shorts and you won't be able to pick at it.

Those Scouting shorts are an accident waiting to happen. And as for the hats!

Mike fae Dundee wrote (see)

Those Scouting shorts are an accident waiting to happen. And as for the hats!

Any excuse for a classic.

"It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw."