🕵🏿 🈚️ 🧕🏼 A burn is ... Treatment, first aid, degree of burns 🍨 👨‍👦‍👦 🔇

Almost every person at least once in his life fell into extreme situations or found himself in a life-threatening situation. As a result of this, various injuries can be received that cause substantial harm to health. In the article we will analyze what burns are, types, degrees, help with such injuries.

What are burns?

You can get such an injury even in everyday life, not to mention production. A burn is damage to the skin that is caused by thermal, chemical, electrical, radiation exposure. In most cases, these lesions affect the upper layers of the skin, but in serious situations, muscles, blood vessels, and even bones can be affected.

If one wonders how to cure a burn, the answer to it will depend on the degree and extent of the damage. In some cases, you can do home remedies, and sometimes you need serious specialized help.

Causes of Burns

A variety of causes can cause burns, for which their manifestations and signs of damage are characteristic. Burns can cause:

thermal factors;
chemical;
electricity;
radiation exposure;
bacteria (the so-called bacterial burn).

All of these factors can affect with varying degrees, so the burn will have its manifestations and require an individual approach to treatment.

Types of burns

The most common are thermal burns, that is, those resulting from exposure:

Of fire. Very often, the upper respiratory tract, face are damaged. When damage to parts of the body is observed, the process of removing clothes from charred areas presents a great difficulty.
Boiling water. Almost everyone has come across this. The area may be small, but the depth is significant.
Couple. Such a defeat usually does not cause a lot of problems.
Hot objects: they usually leave clear boundaries and deep lesions.

With a thermal burn, the degree of damage depends on several factors:

temperature
duration of exposure;
degree of thermal conductivity;
general health and skin of the affected person.

A chemical burn is damage to the skin as a result of exposure to various aggressive substances, for example:

acid (after such exposure, the lesion is usually not deep).
alkalis;
salts of heavy metals such as silver nitrate, zinc chloride, which most often cause superficial burns to the skin.

Electric burns can be obtained after contact with conductive materials. Current quickly enough spreads through muscles, blood, cerebrospinal fluid. Danger to humans is exposure to more than 0.1 A.

A distinctive feature of electrical damage is the presence of an entry and exit point. This is the so-called current label. The lesion area is usually small but deep.

Radiation burns can be associated with:

With ultraviolet light. Such burns can easily earn lovers of sunbathing in the afternoon. The lesion area is usually large, but most often it is possible to cope with the help of home remedies.
With exposure to ionizing radiation. In this case, not only the skin is affected, but also adjacent organs and tissues.
With infrared radiation. It often causes burns to the cornea, retina, and skin. The defeat depends on the duration of exposure to this negative factor.

And another type of burn is a bacterial burn, which can cause some types of microorganisms. The severity also varies from small nodular lesions to a condition that can even threaten a person’s life, for example, with the development of staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome.

The degree of burn and their manifestation

The burn can be obtained both very insignificant, and such that urgent hospitalization is required. Depending on the complexity of the lesion, the consequences can also differ significantly from each other. There are several degrees of burn:

The first degree (I) is considered the easiest. When the lesion is observed, redness of the skin at the burn site, a slight swelling. With such damage, only the superficial layers of the skin are affected, so there are no serious complications, special treatment is not required, and after a few days there is practically no trace of a burn.
II degree is already more serious: there is pain on the burned area, redness, swelling. Due to the detachment of the epidermis, the formation of blisters can be observed. If you let them open themselves, then after about two weeks, complete healing takes place without any signs.
III-A degree. With such a lesion, not only the epidermis is affected, but also partially the hair follicles, glands located in the skin. Tissue death is observed, due to vascular changes, edema extends to the entire thickness of the skin. A 3rd degree burn after itself forms a crust of gray or light brown color, but before this blisters necessarily appear, which can reach impressive sizes. Healing takes a long time and requires medical intervention.
III – B degree. The burn captures all layers of the skin, including subcutaneous fat. Fluid-filled bubbles form with streaks of blood. Pain may be mild or completely absent. It is unlikely that it will be possible to independently cope with such damage.
4 degree burn. The most serious form. Damage to all layers of the skin with the capture of muscles, tendons and even bones is noted. A dark crust of almost black color is formed, venous vessels are visible through it. As a result of the lesion, nerve endings are damaged, so the patient practically does not feel pain. Very high risk of intoxication and the development of various complications.

Most often, a burn is not one degree, but a combination of several. The severity of the situation is also determined by the area of the lesion. Depending on this, burns are:

Extensive, in which more than 15% of the skin is affected.
Not extensive.

If the burn is extensive and more than 25% of the skin is affected, then a high probability of a burn disease.

What is a burn disease?

The course of this complication and severity depend on several factors:

The age of the victim.
The location of the affected area.
Degree of burn.
Area of damage.

Burn disease in its development goes through the following stages:

1. The shock. It can last from several hours to several days, it all depends on the area of the lesion. There are several degrees of shock:

The first is characterized by burning pain, normal pressure and heart rate within 90 beats per minute.
In the second degree, the heart contracts even more often, the pressure drops, the body temperature decreases, and a feeling of thirst appears.
With damage to more than 60% of the skin, there is a 3 degree of shock. The condition is critical. The pulse is barely felt, the pressure is low.

2. Burn toxemia. It comes due to the effects of tissue breakdown products on the body. It usually occurs a few days after the lesion and lasts 1-2 weeks. In this case, a person feels weakness, nausea, may be vomiting, fever.

3. Septicotoxemia. It starts from day 10 and lasts several weeks. Infection is noted. If the dynamics of treatment is negative, then this is fatal. This is observed if there was a burn of 4 degrees or a deep skin lesion.

5. Reconvalescence. Effective drug treatment ends with healing of burn wounds and restoration of internal organs.

In order to prevent the development of a burn disease, it is necessary to deliver the victim of the burn to the hospital. Doctors will be able to assess the severity of the injuries received and provide effective assistance.

First aid for burns

Whatever the cause of the burn, the first step is to take the following actions:

Eliminate the source of the lesion.
Quickly cool the damaged skin area.
Burn treatment and sterile dressing.
Relieve pain.
Call an ambulance team if required.

It is very important not to get confused in the situation and eliminate the damaging factor as soon as possible or take the person to a safe place. The degree of skin damage will depend on this. Rapid cooling helps prevent damage to healthy tissue. If a burn is of degree 3, then such a measure is not performed.

Depending on the damaging factor, first aid measures may have their own nuances. Let's consider them further.

First aid for thermal burn

Almost everyone in his life encounters such injuries, so you need to know how to help yourself or your loved ones in such a situation. Home help for burns of this kind is as follows:

As soon as possible, eliminate the effect of the damaging factor, that is, remove from the fire zone, remove or extinguish burning clothing.
If the burn is small, then it is necessary to cool the affected area under running water for 10-15 minutes, and then apply a clean, damp cloth.
With more serious burns, there is no need to cool, but it is necessary to cover the burn place with a napkin.
Remove jewelry if possible.
Take an anesthetic, for example, Ibuprofen, Paracetamol.

With a thermal burn it is forbidden:

Strip off clothing if it sticks to the wound.
Pierce the blisters.
Touch affected areas.
Smear the wounds with oil, cream, iodine, peroxide and other substances.
Do not apply cotton wool, ice, plasters.

If the burn is serious, then medical attention will be required.

Chemical burn

Often such lesions are received at chemical plants, but it is possible at a chemistry lesson, if safety precautions are not followed. When exposed to a chemical, its effect must be quickly neutralized.

Help with chemical burns with acid is to treat the wound with a solution of soda or soapy water. If alkali is affected, you will first have to rinse thoroughly with water, and then treat with a 2% solution of acetic or citric acid.

If you receive more serious chemical burns, you will have to seek help from specialists.

Help with electric burns

You can get an electric shock at home or at work. First of all, it is necessary to neutralize the source of the lesion. Only do this in a safe manner. The wound must be covered with a napkin.

You can get a slight injury, and it will be enough to drink warm tea and give a sedative to the victim. With serious damage, loss of consciousness may occur. In this case, you will have to resort to additional assistance measures:

Find a comfortable position for the victim.
Make sure there is an influx of fresh air.
Release the airways from excess clothing.
Turn your head to the side.
Before the ambulance arrives, monitor your pulse and breathing.
If the injury is so serious that a cardiac arrest has occurred, urgently need to do artificial respiration with indirect massage of the heart muscle.

It must be remembered that there are situations in which a person's life depends on the speed of first aid.

Radiation burns and first aid

Such damage can be obtained under the influence of ultraviolet, infrared and radiation. This type of burns differs significantly from the rest in that the tissue ionizes, which causes changes in the structure of the protein molecule.

Radiation burns have their own degrees of difficulty:

The first degree is characterized by redness, itching and burning.
In the second degree, blisters appear.
The third degree, in addition to the listed symptoms, includes tissue necrosis and complications.

When providing first aid after receiving a radiation burn, it is prohibited:

Touch the wound with your hands or apply non-sterile objects to it.
If bubbles appear, then you can not pierce them.
Use cosmetics to treat wounds.
Apply ice. This can not only lead to frostbite, but also cause burn shock from a sharp temperature drop.

Eye burns

The cause of an eye burn can be all those factors that were discussed above. Localization can be different, depending on this distinguish:

corneal burn;
century;
retina
the lens.

The degree of damage can be different, and if the first is completely treatable at home and has a favorable outcome, then more serious injuries require an inpatient stay, and the consequences can be most dire.

The signs that will indicate a burn of the eyes are as follows:

Redness and swelling.
Strong pain.
Lacrimation.
Fear of the light.
Decrease in visual acuity.
Change in intraocular pressure in any direction.

If radiation damage to the eyes has occurred , then some of the above symptoms may not occur.

In case of contact with chemicals, rinse them immediately with running water for 15 minutes. To instill antiseptic drops, for example, "Phloxal". Around the eyes, the skin can be greased, covered with a napkin and sent to the ophthalmologist.

A burn from welding, which relates to radiation, may not occur immediately, but several hours after exposure. The characteristic signs with such a lesion are as follows:

severe cutting pain in the eyes;
lacrimation
a sharp decrease in vision;
fear of bright light.

In case of eye damage, help should be provided immediately. The effectiveness of treatment will depend on this.

Burn treatment

Since the severity of burns can be different, there are two types of treatment:

conservative;
operational.

The choice of treatment methods depends on several factors:

total lesion area;
burn depth;
location of injury;
the reasons that triggered the burn;
development of a burn disease;
age of the victim.

If we consider a closed method of treating burns, then it is carried out by applying a bandage with a medicinal product to the wound. When there is a burn of a shallow and mild degree, then this bandage does not even have to be changed often - the wound heals quickly.

In the presence of a second degree, ointments with an antiseptic effect are applied to the burn site, bactericidal ointments. for example, Levomikol or Silvacin. They inhibit the growth of bacteria. Change this bandage every two days.

With burns of 3 and 4 degrees, a crust is formed, therefore, at first it is necessary to treat the area around with antiseptic agents, and after the crust disappears (which usually happens after 2-3 weeks), bactericidal ointments can be used.

The closed method of treatment has its advantages and disadvantages. The first include the following:

The dressing prevents infection from entering the wound.
Protects the wound from mechanical damage.
Medicines contribute to faster healing.

Of the shortcomings, the following are obvious:

When changing the bandage, the patient experiences discomfort.
Dying tissue can cause intoxication.

With a closed method of treatment, special techniques are used, for example, ultraviolet irradiation, bactericidal filters. They are usually available at specialized burn centers.

This method of treatment contributes to the rapid formation of a dry crust. Most often it is used for burns on the face, perineum, neck.

Surgical treatment

In some cases, when burns are large and cover large areas, you have to resort to surgical intervention. The following types are used:

Necrotomy. The doctor dissects the scab to provide blood supply to the tissues. If this is not done, then necrosis may develop.
Necrectomy Most often done with 3rd degree burns in order to remove dead tissue. The wound is well cleaned, suppuration is prevented.
Stage necrectomy. It is produced with deep burns and is more gentle compared to the previous method. Tissue removal is carried out in several passes.
Amputation. The most severe cases: when treatment does not bring results, you have to remove the limb to prevent the further spread of necrosis.

All methods of surgical intervention, except the last, then end with skin transplantation. Most often, it is possible to transplant the patient’s own skin taken from other sites.

Alternative methods of treating burns

Many people wonder how to cure a burn at home? As for damage of the 3rd and 4th degree, here the question is not even discussed - treatment should be carried out only in a hospital. Lighter burns can be tried to cure at home.

There are many proven methods with traditional healers, among them the following are most popular and effective:

If a sunburn is received , then baking soda will perfectly help to cope with it.
Compress from strong tea is also able to alleviate the condition of the victim.
Prepare a composition from 1 tablespoon of starch and a glass of water and apply it several times a day to the affected area.
If you soak a gauze napkin with sea buckthorn oil and apply it to the burn site, healing will go faster.
Some believe that a 2nd degree burn can be quickly cured with raw potatoes. It is necessary to apply fresh potato wedges every 3 minutes. Blisters do not appear if such treatment is started immediately after injury.
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With any burn, not only damage inspires fear, especially with a large area, but also an infection that can join at any time. Risk factors include the following cases:

If more than 30% of the body area is affected.
The burn captures all layers of the skin.
Infant and senile age.
Resistance to antibacterial drugs of bacteria that caused infection.
Incorrect treatment and wound care.
After transplantation, rejection occurred.

To reduce the likelihood of all complications, it is necessary to conduct treatment in specialized clinics. A burn is a fairly serious injury, especially for children who also receive severe psychological trauma.

The prognosis for the treatment of burns always depends on several factors, but the sooner the victim is delivered to the clinic, the more effective the therapy will be, and recovery will come faster and with minimal risk of complications. The consequences of a burn may be irreversible if timely assistance is not provided.

A burn is ... Treatment, first aid, degree of burns