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Health

What to do with a burn?

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 19.11.2021
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Deaths from burns are quite high, so every person needs to know what to do with a burn to prevent negative consequences. In addition, an approximate classification of burns and methods of first aid should be provided.

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What should I do with thermal burns?

Burns are divided into thermal, i.e. As a result of exposure to steam, hot water, fire, and chemical. Obtained by the ingress of chemicals on the skin.

At the first degree of burns, the upper layer of the skin is affected, and such injuries are considered to be the least dangerous injuries. With a first degree burn, the skin turns red, a slight swelling appears. If the burn occupies more than 25% of the area (in an adult), then the injury is considered severe.

In case of thermal burn, the source of high temperature (fire, steam, hot water) must be eliminated and, if possible, cooled the affected area with cold water for several minutes. If a chemical enters the skin, it is necessary to rinse the affected area well with cool water. After that, the affected area is treated with a special anti-burn agent (panthenol, etc.) and covered with a sterile bandage (plasters, alcohol solutions can not be used). As a rule, with first degree burns, recovery occurs in 7-10 days, chemical burns heal a little longer.

At the second degree of a burn, in addition to redness, watery blisters appear. Puncture blisters only in a stationary environment to prevent infection. The affected area can not be treated with oils, ointments, as this creates a favorable environment for the reproduction of bacteria. For second-degree burns, close the affected area with a dry bandage and seek medical attention. If the lesion is not large, you can apply a special remedy on the wound. Usually the recovery period takes 10-14 days.

Any burns to the respiratory tract are considered second degree burns.

With third and fourth degree burns, the skin, muscle tissue is significantly damaged, if a large part of the skin is burned, a fatal outcome is possible. Often such burns cause a shock in a person.

When transporting the injured person, it is important to minimize the contact of the burned areas with an unsterile surface.

Treatment of burns in this case is carried out only in a hospital, while the earlier a person is provided with qualified medical care, the better. In some situations, a skin transplant operation is required. Before the arrival of an ambulance, you can give the victim anesthetic, as well as a plentiful drink.

What to do if a skin burns?

The first thing to do with a skin burn is to rinse the affected area under cool running water. In the case of a thermal burn, this will help cool the surface of the skin and prevent further damage. With a chemical burn, water will help wash off the remains of the substance from the surface of the skin, and stop the burning action.

Further, if the burn is not significant, it is recommended to apply a cream or ointment that repairs the epidermis (Pantenol, Bepanten) to the affected area. If severe burns occur, seek medical attention as soon as possible.

What should I do if my hand is burned?

Hand burn is the most common injury. Typically, such burns occur when touching iron, fire, boiling water, as well as in inaccurate handling of chemicals. Treatment depends on the strength and area of the lesion. What to do with a burn of the hand in the first place, is the cooling of the burnt surface or the washing off of the remnants of chemical preparations. Further actions depend on how much the hand is burnt. If the burn is not strong, then you can use Panthenol, Bepanten, etc. If most of the hand is affected (or the entire hand), an ambulance should be called.

What should I do if my finger is burned?

Burning a finger, like the other parts of the body, requires immediate first aid. First of all, it's cooling the finger or washing off the remnants of the chemical. Keep your finger under running cold water you need a pretty debt until the pain subsides. After that, if necessary, having wetted with a clean dry napkin, apply on the affected finger a means for skin regeneration with anti-inflammatory effect (Bepanten, Panthenol, Levomekol). With deep burns, a doctor's consultation is required.

What to do if the foot is burned?

What to do with a foot burn depends on several factors (the depth of the lesion, the burn area, etc.). With any burn, it is important to help in the first minutes, i.e. Rinse affected area with cool water (with thermal burn it will help cool and reduce pain, and with chemical remove the remnants of the drug that caused the burn).

After first aid, with minor burns (without blistering), it is necessary to apply to the affected area a burn remedy with healing and anti-inflammatory properties (panthenol, solcoseryl, etc.).

Deep burns should be treated under the supervision of a specialist.

What should I do if my face is burned?

With face burns, many ask the question what to do with a burn to get rid of traces in the shortest possible time.

With deep and severe lesions, it is not recommended to apply bandages with ointments or creams on the face, as this can prevent specialists from assessing the depth of burns. When transporting to a hospital, you can cover your face with a light, dry gauze dressing to avoid exposure to external stimuli.

Treatment in the hospital is necessary only for deep burns, as damage to the eyes or respiratory system is possible.

Treatment of light burns is performed at home according to the doctor's recommendations.

When thermal skin burns the face after cooling the skin, it is recommended that the wound be treated with cooling creams, disinfectant ointments. If there are no blisters, you can lubricate the affected area with medical alcohol. Treatment of light burns is carried out in an open or semi-open way (short-term application of compresses with medications).

What should I do if my eye is burned?

Eye burns can occur for various reasons: exposure to high temperatures (steam, boiling water, fire, etc.), ultraviolet, infrared radiation, contact with the eye's mucous chemicals.

If you burn your eye, you must quickly provide first aid to the victim, after which you must wait for an ambulance or go to the hospital yourself.

The first thing to do when the eye is burned is a profuse rinse with running water. Use of any neutralizing solutions is not recommended, since unpredictable reactions are possible. For the treatment of burns, the specialist prescribes painkillers and antibacterial ointments, drops, as well as physiotherapy procedures.

What should I do if my tongue is burned?

Burns of the tongue are widespread in everyday life. Usually there is an easy degree of damage, with redness and small puffiness, which arises from too hot food, drinking. Less common are chemical burns of the mucous tongue. Very rarely burns occur due to radiation radiation or electricity.

What to do if you burn a language, a question that interests many. So, with a burn you should rinse and rinse the mouth with cold water for a long time, after which you can treat the affected area with a weak solution of furacilin. If blisters appear on the tongue, it is recommended to seek medical help (possibly, surgery will be required).

In case of chemical burns, after an abundant rinse, anesthetics are recommended, treatment with mucosal anti-inflammatory agents (sodium tetraborate) damaged. In a few days you can use alternative medicine (honey, fish oil, dogrose oil, sea buckthorn). For faster healing, you should not eat foods that irritate the mucous (citrus, salty, sour, spicy food).

What should I do if my lips are burned?

Lips are the most delicate part of the face. Burns can be thermal (boiling water, incandescent objects, etc.) or chemical. What to do with a burn of the lips is almost independent of the type of injury, in the first minutes after the injury, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the affected area with running water (except for burns with quicklime that can not be washed off with water).

Chemical burns should be treated with neutralizing solutions, then treated with anti-inflammatory and wound-healing agents (panthenol, rescuer, solcoseryl).

When blisters appear, ulcers before eating, you must apply antiseptic. Also it is necessary to refuse acute, salty, sour food for the period of treatment.

What should I do if my throat is burned?

What to do with a burn of the throat depends on what caused the burn. After rinsing the throat with cool water, with a chemical burn, neutralize the effect of the substance that caused the burn (soda or dilute acetic, citric acid). With thermal damage to the mucous throat after rinsing with cool water, you can give a drink (or inject) an anesthetic (novocaine). After providing first aid, a specialist consultation is required.

What to do if a sky burns?

The first thing to do with a burn of the palate is to try to relieve the condition of the victim. Well anesthetized ordinary cool water, rinse the mouth cavity until the condition improves (burning, soreness ceases). After this, it is recommended to use anti-inflammatory drugs (sodium tetraborate). Also, a good therapeutic effect has honey, which is a natural anti-inflammatory, healing agent with antibacterial effect.

What should I do if my gums are burned?

Gum burn can occur not only because of high temperatures (hot food, etc.), but also when chemicals hit the gum (for example, during dental treatment).

What to do with a gum burn is difficult to determine by yourself, because only a doctor can assess the extent of the injury. In case of a burn, the first aid should be given to the victim: reduce the action of the burning substance (remove the remnants of the chemical from the mouth), give an anesthetic (with severe pain), rinse the mouth.

Further actions depend on the degree of injury. Minor lesions are treated by rinsing solutions with antiseptic action (furacilin) and healing agents (sea buckthorn oil). In addition, rinses of the oral cavity with herbs (chamomile, St. John's wort) can be prescribed to reduce inflammation and speedy recovery. Treatment for more severe burns is carried out under the supervision of a specialist.

What to do with a head burn?

What to do with a head burn also depends on the degree of injury, the cause of the injury, etc. A head burn can result from prolonged exposure to the open sun without a headdress, when exposed to chemicals (hair coloring at home, applying masks to the scalp, etc.), and a head burn can be triggered by radiation therapy, a heated object.

In the case of chemical burns, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the head and remove the remnants of the substance, with sunburn (after cooling with cool water) it is recommended to use the cream against sunburn, with thermal trauma, it is necessary to deliver the victim as quickly as possible to the hospital.

Independent treatment of head burns is not recommended, since it can provoke negative consequences (alopecia, infection, etc.)

What to do with a blister from a burn?

The formation of blisters on the surface of the skin indicates a deep lesion of the tissues, in which case the burns are referred to the second degree of severity, i.e. Which poses a threat to life. Bubbles can form immediately after a burn or after a while. Usually on the skin appear bubbles after burns with boiling water or after excessive sunburn. Such burns are very painful, in addition to this, the general condition after an injury can deteriorate significantly.

Puncture or somehow damage the formed bubbles is what to do with a second degree burn is strictly prohibited. The decision to open the bladder can only be made by a specialist, in case of suppuration (with infection and inflammation). An autopsy is performed only in a hospital.

Treatment of burns with the formation of blisters is carried out independently only when the affected area is not more than the palm (treatment with anti-inflammatory and wound-healing agents), in other cases hospitalization and treatment in the hospital is required.

What should I do if my child has a burn?

Burns in the child require urgent help. The effectiveness of the treatment of burns in this case depends on the timely provision of first aid.

What to do with a child's burn depends on the severity of the injury. If the burn is not large, you should immediately wash it with cold water, apply a cool compress, treat the wound with a special remedy (panthenol, furacilin ointment, Boro-plus, Rescuer), if necessary, you can apply a bandage. If it is difficult to treat the wound, you can impregnate the gauze with a means of burns and apply it to the affected area (change 2-3 times a day).

Urgently call an ambulance should be in case the affected area becomes crimson, covered with blisters, clothing stuck to the burned area. With small burns, when treatment can be carried out independently, it is recommended to use preparations on a natural basis (with aloe, honey, sea-buckthorn oil).

What should I do with a burn?

The first thing to do with a burn is not to panic. If the burned area does not take more than 10%, then the burn is practically not a threat to life. It is recommended to immediately wash the burn under the water. With a thermal burn, this will help cool the surface and prevent damage to the deeper layers of the skin. In case of a chemical burn, the running water will help remove the remnants of the substance so as not to damage the deep tissues.

With a minor burn, but with the formation of blisters, care must be taken not to start inflammation. Infection in the lesion can be indicated by a turbid yellowish liquid in the blister, reddening around. In this case, you need to seek medical help urgently.

Strong, numerous and extensive burns, as well as burns of mucous membranes require urgent medical attention. Before the arrival of the ambulance, you can wash the affected area with cool water and cover it with a dry clean dressing.

How to make a bandage for a burn?

Bandages with burns are necessary to prevent dust, infection, etc. From entering the wound and causing severe inflammation (suppuration).

The dressing on the burnt surface should not be tight, so as not to injure the inflamed areas even further and not to disturb the blood circulation (otherwise, tissue death may be possible). Also, the dressing should be well fixed on the wound.

If necessary, the gauze dressing can be impregnated with a medicine (furacilin solution, novocaine).

What to do with a burn and how to bandage a wound, the first questions arising in this type of injury.

First of all, it is worth noting that you need to do the bandaging with clean hands only, you need to put a sterile napkin on the wound, then gently pin it on the damaged area (not too tightly).

What can not be done with burns?

What can not be done with burns is an important issue. As a result of improper actions in such traumas, the process of healing and restoring tissues can increase, in addition, serious consequences (inflammation, suppuration, etc.) are possible.

So, you can not treat the affected area immediately after the burn with fat (vegetable oil), green, iodine, alcohol (with deep tissue damage). Such actions can aggravate the situation and prevent specialists from determining the degree of burn, which will lead to initially incorrect treatment. Also, ice should not be used to cool the damaged area, as this can provoke frostbite.

When blisters occur, you can not open them yourself (pierce, comb, etc.), as this can lead to infection and severe inflammation.

What to do after a burn?

With a burn, not only the burned area of the body suffers, but the whole organism as a whole. With burns that occupy more than 15% of the body surface, a significant deterioration in the general condition (burn disease) is possible, so it is better to spend some time under the supervision of specialists.

What to do with a burn and after it depends on the severity of the injury. For mild burns, it is recommended that the wound be treated regularly with special means, if necessary, you should change the dressing 1-2 times a day, and be gentle.

With severe and extensive burns, hospitalization is required.

What to do with a burn and how to provide first aid is important for everyone, since these injuries often happen not only at work, but also at home. Household burns occupy a leading position among all types of injuries, especially among young children. In this situation, the main thing is not to get confused and provide first aid in a timely manner, which will help not only to alleviate the condition of the victim (to reduce pain), but also to make the recovery process easier and faster.

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