^

Health

What should I do with thermal burns?

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 19.10.2021
Fact-checked
х

All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.

We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.

If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.

Thermal burns are widespread in everyday life, for example, from iron, steam, boiling oil, etc., in addition, thermal burns are due to too long exposure to the sun.

What should I do if I burn with fire?

Burns by fire not only cause severe pain, but are a rather dangerous kind of injury. Everyone should know what to do with a fire burn and how to act before an ambulance arrives.

First of all, you need to eliminate the source of fire. If a person has flared clothes to extinguish it with a strong pressure of water or cover it with something dense to block the access of oxygen. It is worth noting that waving a piece of cloth, newspaper, etc., because this only will more strongly kindle the fire.

After the fire is extinguished, it is necessary to rid the affected parts of the body of the remains of burnt clothing, which can fester and aggravate the situation even more. Remove the tissue carefully so as not to cause more damage. Clothes that burned to the skin can not be torn off, you can gently cut off the edges or a piece of clothing with small scissors, but if you do not have scissors at hand, you can leave everything and wait for the ambulance to arrive.

If the burn takes more than 10% of the skin, treatment should only be prescribed by a specialist, minor or minor burns can be treated at home using conventional anti-burn drugs (Levomycol, panthenol) or alternative medicine methods.

What should I do if I get an iron burn?

Iron burns occur quite often. Inaccurate handling of the appliance, haste, inattention - all this becomes the cause of injury, sometimes quite severe. What to do with a burn with an iron and how to act in such a situation is described below.

First of all, it is necessary to cool the damaged area (provided that there are no blisters). For cooling, you can use cool running water (not ice water or ice). With a little redness, the code can be rubbed with alcohol (40%) or with a weak solution of diluted potassium permanganate. The blisters that appear should be treated with an anti-burn agent and covered with a clean bandage, it is contraindicated to open blisters on their own.

When burns are recommended abundant drink, with severe burns you can drink anesthetic.

Any burn after treatment must be covered with a clean dressing, as a dressing material, you can use gauze or bandage.

With third degree burns, you should only cover the damaged area with a clean dressing and seek medical help.

Handle the burn with vegetable oil, fat cream, egg, sour cream and other products with fat content is impossible, because fat reduces heat loss and the affected tissues cool down more slowly, which aggravates the situation.

In addition, it is not recommended to use urine for rubbing or rubbing the burn site, since the toxins contained in it can cause severe inflammation.

What to do with a burn from a curling iron?

To make beautiful ringlets, women often use various adaptations, in particular a curling iron. This power tool (especially with inaccurate use) often leaves burns on the face and neck when the heated surface touches the skin and refers to thermal.

Many girls do not know what to do with a burn and how to quickly remove ugly redness.

As with other thermal burns, you must immediately cool the burned area: apply a cool compress, wash, etc. After that, you need to apply anti-inflammatory and restorative cream from burns (Pantenol, Levomekol). After a couple of days, the burned area can be lubricated with regenerating preparations (sea buckthorn oil, Bepanten, Aloe Vera).

With a severe burn, the appearance of blisters, severe soreness, etc. It is necessary to consult a doctor.

What should I do if I burn in a solarium?

Burns from solariums are more common than from the sun. In the solarium, the intensity of ultraviolet radiation is much higher and the skin can burn in a few minutes and even seconds.

If it is wrong to calculate the time or sensitivity of the skin, then the tanning bed can be easily burned, and you can get quite severe burns.

These types of burns are thermal, so cooling the skin is what you do when you burn after a tanning salon in the first place. To do this, it is recommended to take a cool shower or bath with the addition of half a glass of baking soda, which will help calm the skin and eliminate burning sensation.

On the scorched skin you can apply Panthenol, Aloe gel, it is also recommended to apply a cream with antioxidants on the skin that will help stop oxidative processes and prevent aging (cream with grape extract, green tea, etc.).

With such burns, you need to drink more liquid, which will help to avoid dehydration and speed up the process of skin regeneration.

After a burn, you must refrain from direct sunlight (or re-visit the solarium), as this can only aggravate the situation.

When blisters do not pierce or damage them, self-opening of blisters can lead to infection and severe consequences

What should I do if I burn with cold?

A cold injury, better known as cold trauma, occurs at low ambient temperatures, or when the skin contacts an icy surface (concrete, metal, any liquid).

Excrete direct and indirect cold trauma. Indirect damage to the cold is observed in icy air, frostbite, and direct - in contact with cold objects. Also, the cold trauma is divided into the general (the whole body is affected) and the local (the defeat of a certain part of the body, more often the hands).

According to the principle of impact, the trauma of a horse is very similar to a burn. In the cold season it is not recommended to touch the icy metal objects with your hands - this can lead to cold trauma. It also does not exclude the possibility of freezing to an object, which will lead to more severe consequences. A cold with a cold can be more dangerous than a burn with a red-hot metal, as when touching a hot person, it jerks the hand on an instinctive level, and when it's freezing to a metal, this is impossible.

Severe cold burns are extremely rare. As a rule, severe cold burns are received by workers in cryogenic industries or residents of those areas where very low air temperatures are observed.

What to do with cold burns depends on the degree of frostbite. First of all, it is necessary to eliminate the source of cold that affects the body (or part of the body). With frostbite of the extremities, it is necessary to warm them to restore blood circulation and prevent the development of infection.

In the event of a general cold injury, the victim must be taken to a warm room, completely disguised and called for an ambulance.

With minor frostbite, rubbing of the affected area will help the appearance of redness with woolen cloth, warm air (breathing), warm hands, light massage. After warming, a dry bandage should be applied.

If frostbite of the second - fourth degree is not recommended intensive rubbing of the affected area, you need to impose a heat-retaining bandage (a thick layer of cotton wool between gauze, quilted jacket, woolen cloth). If frostbitten limbs, they must be fixed with improvised materials (board, thick cardboard, stick, etc.).

When receiving a cold burn, hot drink, an aspirin tablet (No-shpy, papaverine) is shown, you can give the victim a small amount of alcohol.

It is impossible to wash the frost-bitten tissues with snow, as this can lead to vascular damage, infection.

The rapid attempts to warm up the victim (warmers, fire) worsen the course of cold trauma. Also ineffective in deep frostbite is rubbing alcohol, fat, oil.

With a mild cold injury, you can warm the victim in warm water, starting from 240C, then gradually raise the water temperature to 36 - 370C.

With moderate or severe frostbite, shortness of breath, weak pulse, it is necessary to urgently call an ambulance or deliver the victim to the hospital.

What to do with an electric burn?

Electricity burns are possible with lightning strikes, touching the wiring (especially faulty ones) or wires under high voltage. Often such children suffer from such burns, who climb into sockets or try to snack wires.

With a current burn, there are two marks: the first in the place where the penetration of electricity into the body occurred, and the second in where it came out (most often in contact with metal, earth, etc.). Also, with an electric shock, nerve endings and vessels are affected.

What to do with a burn from electricity in many ways depends on the place of injury. If there is a suspicion of a neck or spine injury, it is forbidden to move the injured person, it is necessary to urgently call an ambulance and wait for the help of specialists.

If an electric shock has occurred from the appliance, it is necessary to disconnect the appliance from the mains (if everything happened on the street, it is necessary to find power engineers who will disconnect the voltage).

After this, it is necessary to feel the pulse, breathing (in case of lack of breathing or pulse, it is recommended to perform an indirect massage of the heart).

What should I do if I get an ultraviolet lamp burn?

Ultraviolet light can be dangerous to the skin and eyes of a person, since they are very sensitive to this type of radiation. Prolonged exposure to an ultraviolet lamp can trigger a skin burn (similar to sunburn), and ultraviolet light can cause severe eye burns and this will last only a few minutes.

What to do with a skin burn ultraviolet lamp know almost everything, since such burns are similar to sunny. In this case, cooling means, Panthenol, etc. Are used.

The situation with the ultraviolet eye burn is much more complicated. The whole danger of such damage is that the symptoms begin to manifest a few hours after the injury and a person can not always understand what happened.

Burns of the eyes are manifested by severe pain, photophobia, a sensation of sand in the eyes.

To reduce pain, it is necessary to apply a cool compress (cotton wool or gauze soaked in cold water) to the eyes.

After that, eye drops are used to remove irritation and with antibacterial effect (it is better if they are prescribed by a specialist).

In addition, with burns of the eyes, it is necessary to darken the room in which the victim is located, since the light causes severe pain to the affected eyes.

Translation Disclaimer: For the convenience of users of the iLive portal this article has been translated into the current language, but has not yet been verified by a native speaker who has the necessary qualifications for this. In this regard, we warn you that the translation of this article may be incorrect, may contain lexical, syntactic and grammatical errors.

You are reporting a typo in the following text:
Simply click the "Send typo report" button to complete the report. You can also include a comment.