Restoration of skin after burns of 2, 3 degrees

The intensity with which recovery from burns occurs and its results are determined by many factors, primarily the degree of damage to the skin, especially in deep burn injuries, when the layer of germ cells of the epidermis is affected.

To ensure that the skin recovers normally after a burn during the convalescent period, certain medications, physiotherapy procedures and surgical methods are used.

Recovery from 1st degree burn

As a rule, recovery from a first-degree burn – with erythema of the skin not extending beyond its stratum corneum – occurs within three to four days due to the constant physiological renewal of the cells of this layer.

However, with a large burnt surface, the general condition of a person significantly worsens due to thermoregulation disorders and dehydration, which requires urgent treatment and longer recovery. It is recommended to take vitamins A, C, B1, B6, B9, B12, P.

Recovery from sunburn, which in most cases is limited to 1 degree, can be facilitated by using external agents containing provitamin B5 - dexpanthenol (Panthenol, D-panthenol); aloe liniment and gels with its extract; Kalanchoe juice; ointment with comfrey, allantoin and vitamin E. Read also - Creams for burns. Sea buckthorn oil and rosehip oil, propolis and mumiyo (in the form of aqueous solutions) help, which should be used when the stage of desquamation (peeling) of the epithelium begins.

But the ease of sunburn is deceptive. You can quickly restore the normal condition of the skin, but its damage does not pass without a trace: excessive ultraviolet radiation causes damage to the DNA of dermal cells, accelerates atrophic processes in the skin and increases the risk of malignant degeneration of its cells. Experts from the US Skin Cancer Foundation warn that more than five sunburns in youth increases the likelihood of developing melanoma by 80%.

Recovery from a 2nd degree burn

The recovery of the skin after a second-degree burn takes much longer, when, in addition to hyperemia and swelling of the skin, its upper layer peels off with the formation of vesicles (bubbles) filled with serous exudate.

In the case of vesicles that remain unopened, it takes three to four weeks for skin cells to repair, and in the case of a burst blister and infection, it takes twice as long. The recovery of skin after a boiling water burn, which is most often of the 2nd degree, can also take the same amount of time. It may be necessary to restore facial skin after a burn caused, for example, by exposure to steam, as a result of chemical peeling or laser resurfacing, which often cause blisters and epidermal peeling.

To activate the process of cell regeneration and improve the trophism of damaged tissues, ointments and creams are used to restore skin after burns:

• 10% Methyluracil ointment (Metacil);
• Reparef ointment (with antimicrobial quinoxaline and a complex of essential fatty acids);
• 5% Actovegin ointment;
• Solcoseryl ointment and gel;
• Vundehil ointment (with propolis and medicinal plant extracts);
• Thymogen cream (with glutamine and tryptophan).
• multi-component homeopathic ointment Traumeel S.

To stimulate regenerative processes in the dermis, a solution of sodium deoxyribonucleate (Derinat) is used externally. For oral administration, a drug from the regenerant group, Ximedon (0.25 g tablets), can be prescribed - two tablets three times a day. And the drug Prodigiosan (synthesized from the pigment of the cell membranes of Chromobacterium prodigiosus), which has the form of a solution and is intended for intramuscular injections.

More useful information in the article - Burn Treatment

Recovery from a 3rd degree burn

The most difficult is recovery after a third-degree burn, since damage to skin tissue leads to its necrosis (due to protein coagulation), and at first the dead tissue is rejected. As a result, the process of granulation and epithelialization of the burn wound can begin a month after the burn and continue for three or more months.

Skin restoration after a third-degree burn is carried out using the same external means that were listed above. Recovery after severe burns is also stimulated by applying wipes with the drug Khonsurid (chondroitin + hyaluronate) to the burn surface - once every two to three days.

However, in many cases, the large size of burn wounds leads to the need to replenish the missing skin tissue using surgery - various methods of skin grafting: a flap of the patient's own skin (autograft), allo or xenografts, transplantation of keratinocytes or fibroblasts (cultured on a collagen base) onto the burn surface.

In addition, it is necessary to combat scars - dense formations of fibrous fibrous tissue replacing the epidermis cell. For this purpose, such external agents as ointments with corticosteroids (Hydrocortisone, etc.), Heparin ointment, Contractubex and Zeraderm Ultra gels are used. All details of their use are in the material - Ointments for the resorption of scars.

In addition to ointments, Lidase (in the form of a lyophilisate) is used to soften the fibrous tissue of scars by introducing 1 ml of the prepared solution into the area of scar tissue (every day or every two days).

Read also – Treatment of keloid scars

Burn scars, especially wide ones, will be much flatter with the use of special compression hosiery or elastic bandages. This method is called compression therapy and its principle of action is based on a more orderly deposition of collagen with perpendicular pressure on its growing fibers.

A significant reparative effect for skin restoration after 2nd and 3rd degree burns is observed when performing physiotherapeutic procedures:

• electrophoresis with corticosteroids (Hydrocortisone), aloe extract, Actovegin;
• ultraphonophoresis with proteolytic enzymes (Chymotrypsin, Lidase, Collagenase, Terrylitin);
• medicinal infrared photophoresis;
• UHF and UHF therapy.

In case of burns of the extremities, the joints often suffer – due to scars that reduce their functional mobility. Not only sessions of therapeutic massage and physiotherapy exercises help to cope with contracture, but also some pharmacological drugs. Among them, specialists name Chondroitin sulfate (Structum), which is produced in the form of capsules and taken orally – one capsule (0.25 g) per day. And also the drug Longidaza, which is a hyaluronidase conjugate – in the form of powder for the preparation of an injection solution (an intramuscular injection is given once every three to five days).

Restoring tongue sensitivity after a burn

Burns of the tongue, especially thermal and chemical ones, happen quite often in everyday life. If the tongue is red and swollen, then this is a 1st degree burn, in which the mucous membrane is damaged - the upper layers of its multilayered squamous epithelium. When the pain is very strong and a blister forms on the red and swollen surface of the tongue, this is a 2nd degree burn with damage to the deeper layers of the mucous membrane. And a 3rd degree burn affects not only the mucous membrane plate, but can also reach the lingual fascia.

Restoration of tongue sensitivity after a 1-2 degree burn (regeneration of filiform and conical papillae) occurs by itself. The restoration of taste after a tongue burn occurs in the same way: damaged taste buds (receptors) of fungiform, grooved and foliate papillae, which provide the sensation of taste and are constantly renewed.

To help them recover and heal the burn, you can rinse your mouth with a decoction of calendula flowers, plantain leaves or knotweed, as well as aloe and golden mustache juice. And doctors advise using Propomizol spray with propolis and oils - eucalyptus and clove.