How to treat and prevent skin chafing?

Skin chafing is incredibly painful, and can often leave you 'out of action' for days at a time. Oddly enough, many people will not seek to treat their skin chafing. Instead, they will just let it heal by itself. This takes a long time, and you aren't really preventing it from happen again. The information on this page will not only help to treat your skin chafing, but will also help you to stop it being a regular occurrence.

How to treat chafing

Thankfully, treating the issue is simple. You just need some water and petroleum jelly. You should ensure that you treat the chafing as soon as possible after it occurs. The longer you leave it, the more likely it is to blister, bleed, or get infected. In those cases, heading to a doctor is going to be the best option.

To start with, you will want to clean the area completely with water. This will wash away all the sweat and bacteria. Make sure the chaffed area is completely clean. Then dry it with a towel. It needs to be completely dry. If it isn't, then the issue is likely to happen again.

Once the area is dried off, apply petroleum jelly to it. It can be a fairly thick layer. While you can probably walk immediately after without there being much pain, it isn't advisable. You should probably rest for a day or two before you exert yourself more.

How to prevent skin chafing

Obviously, it is better to prevent the skin from chafing in the first place. This isn't that difficult.

The key is to make sure that the area is always dry. If it gets wet, use a towel. However, the best way to prevent is to apply talcum powder between the legs before you walk. This will absorb moisture. Make sure that it is plain talcum powder. It should not be perfumed as this can trigger skin chafing.

If you are regularly suffering from issues, then you may want to add some petroleum jelly to the problem areas. You will not be able to apply talcum powder too. Make sure that you wash the petroleum jelly off off you when you are done exercising for the day. There are other things you can use if the petroleum jelly is not agreeing with you e.g. certain exercise tapes, or dedicated chafing lubricants. However, they cost a lot more so the jelly option is probably the best place to start.

Finally; make sure you dress properly. Compression shorts are great. You should buy yourself some moisture-wicking swimwear such as Polyester PBT which does not include Nylon material and have the ability to protect your skin against the sun UV radiation, Jellyfish and Sea Lice in addition to being Anti-chafing swimwear.

If you regularly suffer from chafing, then talk to your doctor. They may be able to provide you with medicated options.