Degrees of burns
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Burns of the 1st degree are red, with slight pressure, they turn pale and lightly, painful and sensitive. Bubbles with burns of the 1st degree are not formed.
With superficial burns with partial damage to the dermis, the skin also pales when pressed, painful and sensitive. Burn blisters develop within 24 hours. The bottom of the blisters is pink, with time fibrinous exudate is formed.
Deep burns with partial damage to the dermis may be white, red or have a spotted white-red appearance. Burning surface does not turn pale when pressed, less painful and sensitive than with a superficial burn. A pin prick is often interpreted as a normal pressure on the skin surface. Perhaps the formation of blisters, but usually these burns are dry.
Burns with complete damage to the dermis can be white and soft, black and charred, brown and hard or bright red due to hemoglobin fixed in the subcutaneous areas. Pale burns with complete damage to the dermis can simulate a normal skin, with the exception of the absence of blanching of the areas when pressing. Areas of burns are painless and insensitive. Hair is easily extracted from the follicles. Bubbles usually do not develop. Sometimes it takes several days before the formation of signs that allow differentiating burns with complete damage to the dermis from the deep with partial damage.
Burns are classified according to the depth of the skin lesion.
The 1st degree burn is restricted to the epidermis.
The second degree burn (not all thickness) affects part of the dermis and is subdivided into superficial and deep.
A superficial burn of the 2nd degree affects the upper half of the dermis. These burns heal within 2-3 weeks. Healing occurs due to epidermal cells covering the ducts of sweat glands and hair. These cells grow to the surface, then migrate along it, connecting to the cells of neighboring glands and follicles. Burns that heal within 2-3 weeks, rarely leave behind scars, with the exception of cases of infection.
Deep burns of 2 degrees capture the entire dermis and heal more than 3 weeks; healing occurs only from the hair follicles. Characterization of scar formation.
Burns of the third degree damage the entire thickness of the skin, trapping and subjecting to subcutaneous tissue. Healing occurs only from the periphery. These burns, with the exception of small lesions, require skin plasty.
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