Nettle burn in a child and adult: benefit or harm

When staying outdoors, there is a fairly high risk of getting a burn from plants that irritate the skin with their juice. One of these plants is nettle. But it should be noted that practice shows that in the absence of an allergy to such damage, a nettle burn is not dangerous for a person. If you know what to do when receiving such an injury, eliminating discomfort and preventing consequences will not be difficult.

Is nettle burn beneficial?

If you get a nettle burn, you shouldn't worry, as it can even be beneficial to your body. Such burns help improve blood circulation, reduce various inflammations, and also act as a preventive measure against diseases such as rheumatism or arthritis. Therefore, people often even specially grow nettles at home, using its young shoots to improve their health.

Causes Nettle burn in a child and adult: benefit or harm

Why does nettle sting? This is a protective mechanism of this plant, with the help of which it tries to protect itself from possible eating by herbivores. On its leaves and stem there are special stinging hairs of a pointed shape with a small sac at the base. As a result of any impact, the tip of this hair pierces the skin, and the contents of the sac pass through the puncture into the skin, causing a burn at the point of contact. The cellular juice of nettle contains several elements with irritating properties:

• histamine, which is a conductor of inflammatory reactions;
• serotonin with choline;
• formic acid.

All of these substances can cause skin burns, which manifest themselves in the form of very unpleasant symptoms.

Symptoms Nettle burn in a child and adult: benefit or harm

Direct contact with the plant causes an immediate skin reaction. The first sign is a sharp pain, which usually disappears on its own after 5-10 minutes. Then the temperature in the burned area increases, redness appears, and in addition, a small swelling. Itching begins, and blisters characteristic of a nettle burn form on the skin.

Blisters from nettle burn

If blisters appear after a nettle burn, you should use boric acid for treatment (the solution should be 1%). It should be diluted in equal proportions with water, and make compresses, treating the burn site.

Nettle burn in children

Since children's skin, due to their age, does not yet have an effective protective barrier, they are more vulnerable to burns - their delicate and sensitive skin is damaged much more by nettles. Burnt areas turn red and begin to itch strongly, and children (especially very young ones) may not understand that scratching wounds is absolutely forbidden - as a result, the pain becomes even stronger, causing even more discomfort to the baby. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent such a development of events in advance, quickly providing help to the child - for this, you can use both medications and traditional medicine methods.

Complications and consequences

As a complication of a nettle burn, a certain category of people (especially children) may develop a rather severe allergic reaction. It manifests itself in the form of the following symptoms:

• increase in temperature;
• feeling of weakness;
• swelling appears on the skin;
• the heart rate accelerates;
• shortness of breath begins.

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Diagnostics Nettle burn in a child and adult: benefit or harm

In case of an allergic reaction to a nettle burn, the symptoms may differ slightly from the usual clinical picture, so laboratory and diagnostic examination may be required. Only the results of such an examination can finally confirm the allergic nature of the disease.

During the examination, a blood test is performed to detect the accumulation of specific antibodies in it, which belong to the immunoglobulins of the IgE category. The results of such an analysis allow us to determine the form of the disease and select the specifics of further treatment.

A rash similar to a nettle sting

Skin rashes that appear on any part of the body, similar to a nettle burn, are one of the symptoms of urticaria, a common skin disease. Among its other manifestations, the following can be distinguished:

• noticeable itching;
• In some cases, the skin turns red and swelling appears.

Typically, such blisters do not remain on the skin for more than 12 hours, but after some time they may appear on another part of the body.

When such a rash appears once or appears only periodically (while a maximum of 6 weeks have passed since its first appearance), it means that this is an acute form of the disease.

When the rash continues to appear after 6 weeks, this means the development of a chronic form of urticaria.

Treatment Nettle burn in a child and adult: benefit or harm

If an allergic reaction to a burn occurs, timely treatment is necessary. The person needs help as quickly as possible, since it is impossible to allow the allergy to worsen. First, you should treat the burn using apple cider vinegar or salicylic acid (a weak solution) - this will relieve pain and other allergic symptoms. Then you should immediately call an ambulance.

Medicines

To eliminate the symptoms of a nettle burn, you can use Menovazin. This is a fairly effective remedy, and also quite inexpensive. The drug contains racementhol, which helps relieve itching and has an analgesic effect on the burned parts of the skin.

To avoid allergy symptoms, it is necessary to take antihistamines - these include drugs such as Diazolin, Suprastin, Tavegil, and also Claritin.

The highly effective La-Cree cream is suitable for treating a burn in a child or a person with sensitive skin. It contains only natural substances, effectively eliminates the symptoms of a nettle burn, and also promotes rapid skin recovery. This cream also has good moisturizing and nourishing properties. La-Cree will help to remove unpleasant symptoms from a burn in a short time, and will also provide sensitive, recovering skin with reliable protection.

Menovazin should be applied to the burned parts of the skin 2-3 times a day. Among the side effects of this medicine - in case of prolonged use, dizziness may occur, and in addition, a decrease in blood pressure and a feeling of general weakness are observed. Contraindication to the use of the medicine is individual intolerance to novocaine.

Suprastin should be taken 2-3 times a day with food (the dosage is 0.025 g). In case of severe disease, the patient is given a 2% solution intravenously or intramuscularly (1-2 ml). The dosage for children is a quarter, 1/3 or half a tablet 2-3 times a day (a more accurate dose is determined in accordance with the child's age). Side effects include a feeling of general weakness and drowsiness. Contraindications to taking the drug include diseases such as prostate hypertrophy and glaucoma.

Folk remedies

There are quite a few folk remedies for treating nettle burns. They are very effective in dealing with the redness, itching, and blisters that result from contact with this plant. But before using these recipes, you must first clean the burnt area of the stinging hairs, as they will continue to irritate the skin.

To avoid getting new burns, you should first move away from the nettle thickets. The hairs left on the skin after contact with nettles can be removed using the following methods:

• wet a piece of clean cloth with ice water and then gently remove dust and dirt from the injured skin;
• then apply tape or other adhesive tape to this place, and then carefully peel it off from the affected surface - the plant hairs will also come off with it;
• if you don't have any adhesive tape at hand, you need to mix some soil with water and apply the resulting paste to the burn. Then wait for the dirt to dry and remove it, thus clearing the skin of stinging fibers;
• After completing the villus removal procedure, you need to disinfect the skin. For this, use the following products - camphor, boric or salicylic alcohol or hydrogen peroxide solution. Treat the affected area with a cotton swab or bandage soaked in the medicine.

Since the poisonous juice released by nettle hairs contains formic acid, it is necessary to neutralize its effect first. The most effective remedy in this case is baking soda. To relieve pain from a burn, you should make a mixture of soda and water (it should turn into a paste), and then treat the injured surface with it. Then, after some time, you need to remove the mixture - with cold water or a clean cloth. Instead of soda, you can use laundry or liquid soap (since it has a slightly alkaline pH) or regular table vinegar.

A clay compress is also effective in this case. In addition, you can wipe the burn site with any available alcohol solution or regular vodka. This procedure will quickly remove the irritating toxic substance from the skin.

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Herbal treatment

Medicinal herbs, such as aloe vera, also have a therapeutic effect on nettle burns. Its pulp and juice have powerful anti-inflammatory properties, which allows them to quickly eliminate irritation.

You should also pay attention to plants growing near nettles - such as plantain, horse or curly sorrel, as well as common horsetail and balsam. You should tear off a leaf from any of them, then rinse it with water, knead it until you get juice, and then apply it to the burn for a few minutes. Within 30 minutes, the symptoms should subside.

To relieve irritation with itching, nettle root is also often used. The gruel made from it should be applied to the burn site.

Forecast

A nettle burn has a favorable prognosis. With prompt and correct first aid, the symptoms of the burn will soon disappear, without negative consequences. Complications may arise if a person is allergic to nettles, or if there is an extensive burn, but even in this case, timely medical attention and prompt assistance will help eliminate the threat to health.

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