Burns and frostbite are common conditions that arise as a result of prolonged or short-term exposure to extremely low (or, conversely, high) temperatures on the human body. Each of us needs to know the rules of first aid for poisoning, burns and frostbite. This information may help one day save a human life. First aid and prevention of burns and frostbite are currently introduced as a separate course in the school curriculum of senior classes.
First aid for thermal burns
Thermal burns occur when exposed to steam, fire, hot objects (not electrical appliances) on the skin. This is the most common category in everyday life. Most often, children and adolescents suffer due to the lack of experience in handling hot dishes, boiling water, open fire. It often happens that gatherings of a drinking company in the forest result in thermal burns due to the inability to make a fire.
Here is a step by step instruction for first aid for burns (and chemical frostbite):
- Call an ambulance and, if necessary, a fire brigade.
- As soon as possible, try to free the patient from clothing (if the area of injury was under a cloth or any other material). If pieces of tissue adhere to the wound, do not try to tear them off, only doctors can do this without consequences.
- If the burn did not pass to the internal organs and muscle tissue, the burned surface of the skin is cooled with a stream of running water for about fifteen minutes, until the ambulance arrives, this effect will relieve pain and the first shock in the patient.
- Compress from pure cotton wool or gauze moistened with a solution of potassium permanganate will be very useful. This composition "tans" the skin and is the prevention of the formation of blisters with pus, characteristic of second-stage burns.
- If it is visually noticeable that the burn affected muscle tissue and internal organs, then do not touch anything and make every effort to deliver the patient to the surgical burn department as soon as possible. If a large area of the body is affected, the patient is wrapped in a clean, ironed sheet and immersed on a stretcher. Now his salvation is in the hands of doctors.
First aid for burns and frostbite, summarized in the article, will help not to get confused in an extreme situation.
First Aid for Electric Shock
In apartment buildings of the old housing stock, wiring faults are often present. In this regard, often breakdowns of electrical appliances and as a result - violation of fire safety rules. Upon contact of the human body with a bare wire, outlet, faulty devices, an electric burn occurs. Or, as it is called in medicine, electrical injury.
The danger and the main difference from thermal burns is that injury occurs not only at the site of electric shock. The damaging effect spreads along the path of the electric current, up to the place of its exit from the body.
Electrical injuries have a striking distinctive feature - they are almost painless. First aid should be given based on symptoms of electrical injury. It can be a faint, cramps, respiratory arrest, shock. With a strong discharge, an instant death can occur.
First aid - immediate disconnection of a person from the mains. It is necessary to turn off the switch or cut off the wire. Providing first aid for burns and frostbite of the skin, it is necessary to act in rubber gloves. If not, wrap the palm of your hand with woolen material. You can also use a dry wooden stick. Rubber boots should be worn on the feet of the person assisted.
Barely touch the injured person and broken electrical appliances, wires are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!
If you managed to successfully disconnect the power source, rather call an ambulance.
A person who has suffered an electric trauma has increased irritability, they become touchy and shy, sleep disorders begin.
Chemical burns and actions when they occur
First aid for burns and frostbite always differs in detail, depending on under what circumstances and under the influence of which substance was injured. Most often, such injuries occur in factories and laboratories, where workers are forced to daily contact with hazardous and flammable substances.
If a chemical burn was caused by any acid, then a prolonged (about twenty minutes) exposure to the affected skin area with cool running water is necessary. You can use a stream of tap water. If there is a weak alkaline solution, lubricate the skin with it after a cooling shower.
If the burn was caused by a caustic alkaline solution, you should also rinse the skin under cool running water, then treat with weak (1%) apple cider vinegar or diluted with water essence. Healing creams with a calming effect (for example, Solcoseryl) are also effective.
There is a popular belief that chemical burns are treated with quicklime. This is a myth, and you can’t do that. Otherwise, scars and scars may remain for the rest of your life.
Prevention of burns of any form and degree
If you follow simple safety rules, then knowledge of the algorithm for providing first aid for burns and frostbite may not be useful.
- You should not live in houses and apartments with damaged wiring. This can be fraught with serious consequences - not only burns, but also constant electromagnetic radiation. It also adversely affects the health status and well-being of households.
- Never leave children alone for long periods at home. Most often, the children who suffered from burns were alone and "explored the world" without the help of an adult. In some cases, this left them disabled for the rest of their lives.
- If the work involves the use of chemical acid and alkaline reagents, all safety rules must be strictly observed.
- Smoking in the apartment is a common cause of spontaneous fires and burns. It is very dangerous to smoke in bed while intoxicated. There are cases when, for this reason, houses were burned and dozens of people were seriously injured at a time.
- It is necessary to check the effect of the fire alarm both in the office and in residential apartments, houses. Often this can save many lives, but lazy people prefer not to worry about such "little things."
The main signs of frostbite
Frostbite is damage to any part of the body under the influence of low temperatures. In the vast majority of cases, such damage occurs in the winter season, at temperatures below -10 ° C. Under conditions of high humidity, frostbite can be obtained in spring and autumn at a temperature of about zero degrees. The procedure for providing first aid for burns, frostbite, heat stroke is similar in many aspects.
Critical factors for frostbite are tight synthetic clothing and shoes, inability to get into a heated room, chronic diseases of the vessels of the lower extremities and the cardiovascular system, and intoxication. According to statistics, most cases of limb amputation due to frostbite occur when the patient is intoxicated.
Characteristic symptoms of frostbite:
- the patient's skin becomes pale bluish tint;
- tissue sensitivity atrophies - a sick person almost does not feel pain;
- when the body warms up, red spots appear, fever and fever can begin;
- at more serious stages of frostbite, bubbles with purulent contents may appear (this is also characteristic of second-degree burns).
First aid for frostbite of the first degree
Frostbite of the first degree lends itself to the easiest correction and does not lead to serious consequences for health. Appears with a relatively short influence of frost - about two to three hours at a temperature of minus five degrees. The affected skin becomes pale, after warming it turns slightly red, in some cases, swelling of the tissues is characteristic. A week after recovery, dryness and peeling of the skin is possible, as with light burns.
First aid techniques for frostbite of the first degree:
- It is necessary to take into account the age, state of health and chronic diseases of the affected person.
- Immediately deliver the patient to a warm room - this is the first thing to do.
- Rub the areas of frostbite skin with your hands until redness, make a light massage, wrap with a woolen cloth.
- If the frostbitten part of the patient’s body does not become normal, try placing it in slightly warm water with a temperature of about thirty degrees. Water should not be too hot or cause a feeling of discomfort and pain in the affected person.
- You can make a cotton dressing or compress on the affected skin with warming pharmacy ointments.
- The patient must be fed warm food, give him a hot drink, a small amount of strong alcohol (not more than 50 g).
- In the presence of pain syndromes and mild shock from the tablets, you can use "Aspirin", "Analgin", "Drotaverin".
First aid for frostbite of the second degree
Frostbite of the second degree occurs with a longer and more severe exposure to cold, with wind and high humidity. For example, three hours at a temperature of minus ten to fifteen degrees.
The following symptoms are characteristic:
- pallor and cyanosis of the affected skin;
- the formation in the first days after an injury of blisters filled with pus and a sacrum;
- scars at this stage most often do not form;
- the patient experiences rather severe intense pain after a slight warming of the frostbitten area.
The rules of first aid for burns, frostbite are largely similar, but in the case of the second degree, they will be slightly different. In particular, in this case, a lot depends on the person who undertook to provide assistance. As soon as possible, by any means necessary to deliver the patient to a warm room. It would be ideal if the carer is on a warm car. Incompetent people often confuse the second and third degrees of frostbite, and as a result, the situation may result in amputation of the limb of the patient. Therefore, it is necessary to play it safe and still call an ambulance or take the injured person there yourself.
First aid for frostbite of the third degree
This is the most serious degree to which amputation of affected limbs is a frequent measure. It develops when in frost below ten degrees over three hours in people of almost any health and age. No matter how strong and tempered the patient is, only competent and timely first aid for frostbite (burns) can save him from serious consequences.
The following symptoms are characteristic of this degree:
- within three to four hours in the cold, bubbles are formed on the exposed skin, filled with bloody contents;
- at the end of frostbite, granulation and scar formation occurs;
- descended nails again do not grow back or grow deformed.
The patient must be taken to the emergency room as soon as possible. It is unlikely to be able to help him alone. It would be better if, having found a person with suspicion of frostbite, you will deliver him to a warm place (house, car, apartment) as soon as possible.
Most Common Frostbite Mistakes
It is forbidden to perform the following manipulations:
- rub the skin of the affected person with snow;
- you can not "warm" frostbitten areas around a fire and other open sources of fire;
- it is forbidden to rub the skin with vodka and alcohol;
- an unacceptable and ineffective first aid option for burns and frostbite - rubbing oils and fat into the patient's skin;
- it is undesirable to seat the patient in a hot bath - in some cases, a sharp change in ambient temperatures can provoke heart failure.
Frostbite Prevention
All of the above problems can be avoided by observing the following simple rules:
- Do not walk intoxicated along the street in the winter season;
- Do not go to unfamiliar areas, forest belts, sections of the city;
- dress appropriately in the winter season: hands should be protected, lower legs and ankles too;
- It is necessary to wear a warm (preferably on natural fur or wool) headgear.
Subject to simple preventive rules, first aid for burns and frostbite may simply not be useful.