Yellow scab on my scrape, is it infected?

[icyonly1]

First off, I fell off my mountain bike going downhill and scraped my left knee and elbow pretty bad.

Cleaned it up with hydrogen peroxide, put a layer of neosporin & covered it up with a really big bandaid/adhesive pad.

The day after I got hurt, my knee started swelling up a bit and it started forming the yellow goo layer on the open wound. I figured, maybe it's the Neosporin causing it so I stopped using that & the redness went away but the yellow layer is still there.

It's been 3 days now since my little accident and I've been keeping my wounds moist with vaseline and covered with non-stick pads which I used skin-tape to keep it on my skin.

I've looked everywhere online trying to figure out if my knee scrape is infected and I'm getting mixed answers.

No, there's no redness around the wound.
No, it's not generating more heat than the area around it.

But it is forming a yellow "soft" film covering the entire exposed area.
The yellow "scab" isn't something that wipes off (with gauze) and it's not liquid or runny like puss either.

I figure, a picture is worth a thousand words so here's what it looked like last night after being washed with mild soap & water.

http://i49.tinypic.com/ookev.jpg

I know, I know, "go see your doctor!" but I really don't want to make the trip (and the big co-pay) if it's not necessary, I just want to know if this is a normal healing process like some websites say it is.

Any ideas? It'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[PenMarMom]

The area looks normal to me. I agree with not covering the area with Vaseline. It is petroleum based, and will prevent air from reaching the surface of the wound, but may keep bacteria in. Just keep the area clean. You can keep it covered if you wish. That will keep a hard scab from forming, which is no problem. It looks like you are healing well.

[bigsissie]

I agree that it looks healthy not infected but I would start letting it dry out. There is antiseptic called staphaseptic that is great because it dries and fights the bacteria. Moisture can cause bacteria to grow so if I were you I would just put a bandage on it and let it heal over. Best wishes, Sissie

[rnlj]

From what you described, the yellow film sounds like normal granulation of the tissue. This is part of the healing process. Just keep it clean and covered. I would not recommend putting vaseline on it, as it could potentially harbor some bacteria.  The Neosporin should keep it moist enough. A small amount of redness surrounding the area can be normal as well. I would only go to the doctor if it appears to look worse than it does now. Otherwise, it should continue to heal well with the care you are giving it.