One
of the most painful injuries that one can ever experience is a burn injury.
When a burn occurs to the skin, nerve endings are damaged causing intense
feelings of pain. Every year,
millions of people in the United States are burned in one way or another.
Of those, thousands die as a result of their burns.
Many require long-term hospitalization.
Serious
burns are complex injuries. In
addition to the burn injury itself, a number of other functions may be affected.
Burn injuries can affect muscles, bones, nerves, and blood vessels.
The respiratory system can be damaged, with possible airway obstruction,
respiratory failure and respiratory arrest.
Since burns injure the skin, they impair the body's normal
fluid/electrolyte balance, body temperature, body thermal regulation, joint
function, manual dexterity, and physical appearance. In addition to the physical damage caused by burns, patients
also suffer life long emotional and psychological problems.
The
more common causes of burns are thermal - from fire, steam, and hot liquids or objects, chemical, electrical. The
MOST common cause of burns is from hot liquids, including tap water.
The seriousness of burns is rated by
degrees.
·
First degree burns are superficial injuries that involve only the epidermis
or outer layer of skin. They are
the most common and the most minor of all burns.
The skin is reddened and extremely painful. The burn will heal on its own without scarring within two to
five days. There may be peeling of
the skin and some temporary discoloration.
Most sunburns fall into this category.
·
Second degree burns occur when the first layer of skin is burned through and
the second layer, the dermal layer, is damaged but the burn does not pass
through to underlying tissues and nerves. The
skin appears moist and there will be deep intense pain, reddening, and blisters.
Second degree burns are considered minor if they involve less than 15
percent of the body surface in adults and less than 10 percent in children.
When treated with reasonable care, second degree burns will heal
themselves and produce very little scarring.
Healing is usually complete within three weeks.
·
Third degree burns involve all the layers of the skin.
They are referred to as full thickness burns and are the most serious of
all burns. These are usually
charred black and include areas that appear dry.
The color can vary between charcoal and white. While a third-degree burn
may be very painful, some patients feel little or no pain because the nerve
endings have been destroyed. This
type of burn often requires skin grafting.
As third degree burns heal, dense life long scars form.
While the actual area of the third degree burn is not painful, the areas
around that contain first and second degree burns, and can be very painful.
Treatment of burns
Cool
a burn with water - immediately. Go
to the nearest water faucet and turn on the cold spigot and get cool water on
the burn. Put cool, water-soaked
cloths on the burn. If possible,
avoid icy cold water and ice cubes. Such
measures could cause further damage to burned skin.
Never apply
ointment, grease or butter to the burned area.
Applying such products, actually confine the heat of the burn to the skin
and do not allow the damaged area to cool. In essence, this causes the skin to
continue to burn. After the initial
trauma of the burn and after it has had sufficient time to cool, it would be
appropriate to put ointment on the burn. However, most burns that require an ointment should be seen
by a doctor, as they will prescribe a special burn injury cream.
If you are ever in doubt to seek medical care, do so.
Second or third degree burns should see a doctor, and any burns involving
the face, mouth, throat, etc., need to seek additional medical care.