Rock salt...

[Externet]

Please move to a deserved place; perhaps the lounge if convenient.

Like 50 years ago I heard as some evil storyfact.   Rock salt (NaCl) bullets or filling shot shells with it causes the wound will never heal.   Is that a myth ?  Just curious.

[John Cuthber]

I can't see why.

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, Externet said:

Please move to a deserved place; perhaps the lounge if convenient.

Like 50 years ago I heard as some evil storyfact.   Rock salt (NaCl) bullets or filling shot shells with it causes the wound will never heal.   Is that a myth ?  Just curious.

I would expect salt to draw moisture out of any living cells it comes into contact with by osmosis, killing them. It would thus have some antiseptic action against bacterial cells, but I suppose it would also do some damage to the tissue exposed in the wound. Whether that would materially slow down healing I don't know.

 

[MigL]

It heals and does only superficial damage.
However, it stings like a son of a b*tch.

[TheVat]

Well, salt water has been used since ancient times to treat wounds. And saline solution is currently used in medicine to cleanse wounds and help promote healing.  I would think if a wound were treated at all, and any solid salt bits picked out, then the effect would have been mostly favorable in reducing chances of infection.  It is true that in a hypertonic solution, the net osmotic movement of water will be out of the tissue and into the solution.  A cell placed into a hypertonic solution will shrivel and die by a process known as plasmolysis.  But wound tracts are generally getting flushed out with a lot of fluid and blood, and any large-scale hypertonic bathing seems like it would be minimal.  

[Bobbysubmarine]

I don’t see why either

[Moontanman]

On 8/13/2024 at 5:46 PM, MigL said:

It heals and does only superficial damage.
However, it stings like a son of a b*tch.

I concur due to personal experience! 

[joigus]

Who would suspect at least two members of these forums have actually been pelted with salt.

[Luc Turpin]

Got picked off too by rock salt when young while trying to raid a garden for a second consecutive night.

[sethoflagos]

On 8/13/2024 at 10:53 PM, TheVat said:

I would think if a wound were treated at all, and any solid salt bits picked out, then the effect would have been mostly favorable in reducing chances of infection.

Packed a small wound in my arm one time with salt to stop it getting infected. Healed well enough but with more scar tissue than normal.