How can I get a bandage to stick to my inner thigh?

July 27, 2016 9:19 PM

How can I get a bandage to stick to my inner thigh?

So, I wear skirts a lot, and have thigh chafing. Yes, I wear Body Glide religiously, but this weekend, between running around in 115 degree heat and lots of swimming, I managed to break the skin on the inner thigh of one leg. Now, Body Glide or no, it stings like a bitch. I'd really like to bandage the area to help it heal and make it less painful, but nothing will stay on for more than 15 minutes. I have tried: Band-aids, CVS blister bandages, adhesive gauze pads, and non-adhesive gauze pads held on by waterproof medical tape. It's not just friction from walking that is making the bandages come off -- it also seems to be the fact that my thigh shape changes as I sit/stand/walk/etc. I can put a bandage on when I'm sitting down and have half the adhesive pull away just from standing up.

What can I do to bandage my leg that will actually stick? I'm seriously considering using superglue at this point.

posted by phoenixy to Health & Fitness (17 answers total)

Can you wrap a stretchy ace bandage around your thigh, over a bandaid to hold it in place?
posted by NoraCharles at 9:24 PM on July 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

I think a situation like this calls for gauze or a bandaid secured all the way around the thigh with self-stick tape. (The stuff you get after a blood draw.) It won't stick to your leg, only itself. Wrap it comfortably and don't cut it to length until you try sitting/standing and adjust as needed before snipping off a section.
posted by Crystalinne at 9:26 PM on July 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure how big an area you need to cover but would liquid band aid work?
posted by rozee at 9:27 PM on July 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Tegaderm worked really well to cover an injury I had on a shoulderblade. Tape and gauze would just rub off against my bra strap or pull away if I moved my arm too much, but the tegaderm was totally fine and didn't get all gross and soggy in the shower.
posted by Akhu at 9:32 PM on July 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

Could you use bike shorts to hold a large piece of dressing in place?
posted by pseudostrabismus at 9:33 PM on July 27, 2016 [12 favorites]

Perhaps put it on under a Bandalette? It seems like you could get away with just wearin one (of the non-lacy ones).

FWIW, I stopped wearing skirts for a long time because of this (and because I got tired of the age-shaming I got for wearing pantyhose), and Target has a low-price Spanx knockoff that's just like a SUPERlight-weight pair of bike shorts (but not at all tight) that works nicely under skirts without making me schvitz. It seems like that would be an ideal solution for keeping a bandage in place now, and preventing chafing in the future.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 9:58 PM on July 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Seconding Tegaderm. I've used it for an inner thigh scratch before, in order to wear skirts, and it works great. The larger pads are best, and you can wear them for several days while the skin heals.
posted by gemmy at 11:07 PM on July 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I got a thigh tattoo recently and yeah, Tegaderm.
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:36 PM on July 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Do you know that thigh-long underpants are still made? I can't say much about them because I have never seen anything but pictures in catalogs. If you could stop laughing, you might find them a solution if friction is an ongoing problem.
posted by Cranberry at 11:45 PM on July 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

Your dressing isn't big enough.

You need an adhesive dressing that extends to the front and back of your leg - something like this, but the 10x20cm size or bigger so it doesn't get dislodged.
posted by tinkletown at 1:13 AM on July 28, 2016

I came in to suggest Bandalettes in general to prevent this issue. Liquid bandage under a Bandalette (in the future b/c you have to order them) or under the leg of something like this Jockey SlipShort or similar (found in-person or ordered using Prime) would work as well. I've come to deeply prefer Bandalettes, though.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:21 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yes, get yourself some tegaderm.
posted by pintapicasso at 6:47 AM on July 28, 2016

As someone who had severe thigh chafing from ripped pants, the only thing that worked in practical terms was a compression sleeve. Not comfortable, but held the bandage in place and didn't have to deal with loads of medical tape that would have been painful to remove.
posted by lmfsilva at 6:59 AM on July 28, 2016

Put your bandage on and get some Jockey Skimmies! I wear exclusively skirts and am very prone to chub rub. They are 100x better than body glide. (Don't get the wicking kind, though, they ride up.) Once your chafing heals, continue with the Skimmies. They changed my life.
posted by danielle the bee at 7:16 AM on July 28, 2016

What you want is Compound Tincture of Benzoin. We (rock climbers) use it to make athletic tape stick to sweaty or bloodied hands and it works great. I use these but I'd imagine most drug stores have something similar.
posted by woof at 7:41 AM on July 28, 2016

Tegaderm is awesome for this sort of thing but be wary, it will hurt like a bitch pulling it off that soft sensitive skin in that area. Wrapping with coban may work, but also may shift around a lot. I bandage surgery sites all day, and congratulations, you've got yourself grade a tough place to bandage.
posted by Quincy at 9:08 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: A few updates:

The tegaderm didn't really stick. It stayed on OK as long as I was just puttering around the apartment, but after about half a mile of walking, it rubbed off. It also seemed to kind of irritate the opposing leg.

I took one look at the self-adhesive athletic tape and -- well, if the tegaderm was irritating to the opposing leg, I'm pretty sure the athletic tape would be sandpaper. Maybe I shouldn't have got the brand marketed for veterinary use.

The skin shield + bandalettes are still in the mail.
posted by phoenixy at 1:12 AM on August 2, 2016