Treating a Burn

Treating a Burn
Treating burns is not as difficult as what everyone makes it sound like. Burns do itch but they can be cooled off in a number of ways like the ones mentioned in the following article. Thus take a look at a few simple remedies for treating a burn of various kinds.

A burn is commonly defined as a skin injury that is caused by heat, chemicals, electricity, radiation and friction. When it is a small burn, it generally tends to affect only the epidermal tissue and can heal within no time. But when there are major burns like the second and the third degree, they affect the deeper tissues like the muscles, bones and blood vessels. Treating a burn is very essential because they are painful and can result in disfiguring and permanent scarring of the skin. Though it is not very complicated to treat a minor burn, it does get difficult and unmanageable for treating the more serious burns caused due to explosions and chemicals. This is because along with burn injuries, the victims suffer from other sensitive internal issues. Burns can many a times lead to infections like gangrene if not treated in time, which further leads to amputation of a certain body part or it may prove fatal. If you want to find out how to treat a burn in simple ways, read on and find out easy remedies to do so. More on how to heal a burn.

How to Treat a Burn

When the skin on our bodies comes in contact with anything that has a higher temperature than the skin, it leads to a burn injury. These can be caused by direct fire, chemicals, radiation, hot water, etc. In the following paragraphs we will brief you through treating burns caused by many reasons and the degrees of burns that are observed.

Treating a Minor Burn
As mentioned in the above sentences, there are different degrees and levels of burn injuries and so is there a difference in their treatments. A mild burn is a common sight in households from a hot vessel or the burner. More on treating minor burns. Treating a burn at home may involve;
Run cool tap water over the burn for at least 5 minutes. This is the first step in treating a burn of the mild type.
You can use this step for treating a burn on the hand or the leg, but if it is not superficial, take a bowl and soak the burn with water and a cloth. Use room temperature (RT) water not cold water or ice.
Dry the burn by patting it gently (do not rub).
Apply a burn soothing gel to the area which might help. Treating a burn with aloe vera gel is also a great method if you have natural aloe or cosmetic aloe. More on treating burns at home.
Cover the burn with a clean, loose dressing but don't wrap it tightly.
You can use this remedy for treating a burn from boiling water or treating a steam burn as they are caused by heat and can be managed or soothed by the cooling effect of aloe vera. More on hot water burns.
Treating a Chemical Burn
Chemical burns are mainly caused due to the skin sensitive chemicals like phenol or concentrated acids. You have to be very careful while treating a burn which is caused by a certain chemical since it is mixed with the hazardous components of the chemical. Using another chemical gel to cool it, might react with it and lead to further problems. Thus treating a burn wound from chemicals may involve;
Rinse the chemical off the skin as soon as the sensation is felt, immediately applying a slight stream of RT water. Ask the victim to flush off the chemical from the affected area himself as he will know better. More on burn scar treatment.
Do not use a hard spray of water on the wound as that may cause further damage to the burnt skin. Rinse it for 20 to 30 minutes till the burning sensation reduces.
If the burn is caused due to phenol, don't rinse with water as it does not mix with water. First flush it by rubbing alcohol and then rinse with water.
Similarly, if the wound is caused due to Sulfuric acid, don't use water, but a mild soap solution, if the wound is mild.
These are some basic steps for treating a burn blister caused by chemicals. More on chemical burn treatment.
Treating a Second Degree Burn
2nd degree burns are much more serious than mild burns that we get many a times when we're working in the kitchen. Treating a burn of the second degree is more complicated because it is deeper in the skin and tissue. For treating a burn of this kind, you should;
Soak the burn immediately in cold water for about 15 minutes and keep doing that throughout the day at intervals.
Apply an antibiotic cream to control the pain and keep it away from infection. More on treating burns on fingers.
Cover it with a dry non-stick cloth such as gauze and secure with tape and replace everyday with clean gauze.
Wash the burn everyday and dress it with antiseptic and antibiotic creams.
Keep testing it for infection and if diagnosed, visit the doctor immediately.
Use pain killers to relieve the pain since second degree pains are very hard to bear and seek medical help if the pain is unbearable. More on treating second degree burns.
With these tips for treating a burn, you must have found the right information for every kind of burn. The most important thing you should make sure about is to let the wound heal by covering it and not letting it get infected.
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source:wikipedia