Scald burn questions

What is the best first aid method for a scald burn? Why do they say application of ice immediately makes it worse? How long does it typically take a deep second degree burn to heal? Can third degree scald burns heal on their own, or do they always need a graft?

Thanks.

COLD COLD first fast, to STOP the BURNING, imo.

. . . cold till it stops hurting when you remove the source of cold. Cold water is safer than ice I think, but I've used ice before to good effect. Just don't give yourself frostbite!

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and the 911 operator each said use a cool, not cold, shower, and no ice. Supposedly ice makes it worse, but if it is applied in a way that won't stick it seems like it would cool the injury more quickly.

which isn't much help, but my limited experience included grafts (not me, a friend who fell asleep smoking).

I scalded myself recently, and immediately slapped on a lot of a prescription cortisone ointment I got from my dermatologist friend - Topicort. It was amazing how quickly it took care of the pain, but the damn thing ended up peeling a few weeks later, and there's still a faint mark, so my advice for that is to put a cortisone ointment - even an over-the-counter one - on it as quickly as possible, and keep applying it.

Next time you see your doctor, get a scrip for Topicort - there's a generic - and keep it close at hand in the kitchen......................

the water off some boiled potatoes and poured it into the sink toward me. Hey, I was young and stupid! The water missed the sink and went right down my front from right under my breasts. I called the Doc and he said to put vasaline on it and cover it with saran wrap. It took several weeks to completely heal but there's no scars remaining and no adverse affects that I know of.I don't know the severity of the burn (the degree) but my skin was red and in several days the top layer(s) peeled off.

medication. When I was a child, they used to use butter to cover burns. it was awful. I would always try to find something cold like a cool stream or mud to relieve the pain and swelling after I was buttered.

instead of using hand lotion, unsalted butter would be ok. Way back people put butter right on a new burn and it has been found that that makes the burn worse by holding the heat in.

Rinse a burn asap in cool water. If it is a big burn and you use cold water, you can make yourself shiver, which will then increase your overall heat. Putting ice directly on a burn can injure the injured area more. Water is not so hard on injured skin.

about a year ago. The Dr. cleaned the dead skin off, gave her same sort of cream and bandaged it.

and it certainly does little good to add insult to injury by freezing an area that's just been burned. Using ice on a large burn also can lower body temperature and contribute to shock.

The best thing to do for a small scald is run cold tap water over it for a good ten minutes. For a larger one, jumping into a cold shower immediately to cool down the area is best. Remove rings if the burn is on the hand because the area will swell.

Small scalds can be treated at home. They're painful buggers and there might be blistering, but eventually they'll heal. Large scalds need to be seen at the emergency room because there are systemic consequences for any large burn. What you see on the skin surface might not be what you get below the surface. Plastic wrap can protect the surface on the way to the emergency room. Don't use anything like gauze or cloth that will stick.

For any scald, do not apply ointments and do not pop any blisters that might appear because those blisters are filled with sterile fluid and popping them opens them to infection.

Full thickness burns can heal on their own if they're tiny. Larger ones require grafting.

You do not always need skin grafts for 3rd degree burns. It depends on how large of an area was burnt and where the burn is located. However, since a 3rd degree burn goes through to the muscle, the area will have a dent in it since the underlying adipose tissue has been burnt away, and the skin over it can be injured more easily since that fatty layer isn't there to cushion any impact.

stand in the shower with a sheet over the burned area to protect the skin. The wet sheet can be worn to the er because it won't stick. Cool the area for 20 minutes in running water, but stop after that, or at least that's what I was told.

and is probably about what you'll get before the ambulance arrives for large scalds.

The basic rule for the small scald is keep it under cold water until it doesn't hurt worse when you take it out of the stream.

The concern with ice is actually about doing further damage, victims with large body surface area burns are quite prone to hypothermia. In addition, a person with 3rd degree burns might not be able to feel if the tissue was getting to cold and could damage the tissue further. You definitely need to cool the area immediately to stop any further burning, cool water for a short period of time works well. Moist dressings aren't recommended for burns that cover large BSA and never for burns where the skin is no longer intact. I just had a 2nd degree sun burn that took two weeks to heal, a deep 2nd Degree burn can take weeks even months to heal especially if there are complications. Not all 3rd degree burns require skin grafts again it depends on the size and location. If this is more than just idle curiosity then you need to see a doctor.

David

DU is not the place to get medical advice.

I was wondering what the harm was in doing something that seems intuitive. I've followed all the medical advice given to me by professionals. It was the 911 operator who said to stop icing the area and jump in the shower until the ambulance arrives, that's exactly what I did.

My moron x-bil used to say that. When I was in college, a gas oven blew up on my hand. The only way I could sleep was to keep my hand in a bowl of ice water. It healed completely. My son had a bundle of sparklers explode in his hand one summer, and I was treating him the same way. BIL kept telling me it was wrong. :eyes: Not even. Yesterday I stepped on a lit cigarette. I just put a small piece of ice on it briefly. No pain, no blister, no after effects.

ON EDIT: After reading the thread. The difference was I used ice WATER, not straight ice. The night my son was hurt, I was up all night holding his hand in the bowl. It was the only thing that made it stop hurting.

1) Run it under cool water
2) Run it under some more cool water
3) Eventually it stops hurting, and that's when we'd hit it with the burn spray - some magical chemical that disinfects, numbs, and cools the burn all at the same time. I don't know if doctor's recommend it, but when you're poor and working in a kitchen, the faster you get back to work the faster you start making money again. And the stuff really, really worked - we bought it by the case.

Oh, and I also heard that whiskey helps with the pain.