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Steam burn: so why does it hurt so much?
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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A steam burn is not accompanied by visible damage to the skin, but the pain is very strong. Why? The fact is that the surface layer of the skin does not prevent the penetration of steam droplets into the underlying layers, which overheat, not having time to give off the accumulated heat.
Steam burns are a special category of thermal injuries that are not accompanied by visible tissue damage, but pain – quite severe – is present.
As is known, the skin is conventionally divided into several layers: the superficial epidermis, which is constantly renewed, then the dermis, which contains a lot of immunocytes, and the hypodermis (also known as subcutaneous fat).
Researchers from the Swiss Empa Institute explain: the epidermal layer is indeed obliged to protect the skin from any irritating effects, but it does not prevent steam from penetrating through itself into the dermis. There, steam particles condense, releasing energy that burns the delicate dermis. It turns out that there is a burn, but no damage to the epidermis.
Scientists conducted a series of experiments using pig skin: the material was exposed to hot steam, after which they used spectroscopic diagnostics to examine how exactly the steam penetrated the skin. It was discovered that within the first fifteen seconds, steam particles appeared in all layers of the skin – due to the fact that the epidermal layer let them through.
Only after the epidermis was filled with moisture did the pores shrink and steam particles could no longer penetrate the skin. However, at this stage the burn was already present.
Interestingly, when the skin was heated with dry hot air, the warming up occurred more slowly and no burn occurred.
The scientists went further and conducted other experiments. It turned out that the dermis layer could easily release heat to the outside, but due to the low thermal conductivity of the epidermis, the dermis cooled down slowly. This explains the presence of pain.
Experts advise to devote special attention to the prevention of this type of injury. People most often get burned in the kitchen, and their hands, fingers, and sometimes the face suffer the most. If a steam burn has already occurred - for example, from boiling water in a saucepan or kettle - then you need to help the dermis remove heat from the inner layers to the outside as soon as possible. To do this, dip the affected area in cold water and keep it there for a while. Of course, we are talking about household burns of the 1st or 2nd degree. More serious burns require urgent hospitalization of the victim, usually in a special burn department or center. Steam burns of the 3rd and 4th degree occur mainly in production or during major industrial accidents.
The study is described in Scientific Reports (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-24647-x).
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