Degrees of burns from boiling water, symptoms, treatment. Burns from boiling water: quick and effective treatment at home

Friends, a huge hello to everyone.

The topic of our conversation today will be first aid at home for burns with boiling water, steam or oil. Agree, there is a risk of scalding or getting

Fireworks of hot oil splashes from a raging frying pan are available to each of us every day.

And below I will describe how to competently provide first aid to a burned adult or child, what medicines or folk remedies are best to use for this, how to quickly eliminate pain, and what to do if blisters appear. I will also share my own safety rules that have helped me, a blind person, successfully avoid burns and other kitchen injuries for many years.

First aid for a burn with boiling water at home - step-by-step algorithm of actions

So, in order for first aid for a burn with boiling water at home to be as effective and correct as possible, you must perform the following list of actions:

Quickly eliminate the source of the burn - remove clothes soaked in hot water or discard the towel, get away from the spilled fiery puddle if water has spilled on the floor.
Place the burned area under running cool water, or apply cold, for example, a piece of meat from the freezer, wrapped in one layer of cloth.
Disinfect the affected area with some anti-burn antiseptic and apply a sterile, loose bandage.
If necessary, call a doctor at home, or go to the clinic.

This is brief, and now let’s look at the nuances of each of the above points.

Elimination of scalding components

The very first action when providing first aid for burns with boiling water, steam or hot oil should be the urgent removal of the burning component. That is, we quickly remove boiling water from the victim, remove clothes soaked in boiling water, remove all easily heated objects (rings, bracelets, etc.). After which we provide long-term cooling of the affected segment under cold running water, or in a cold bath mode, or by applying a cold compress in the form, for example, of a product from the freezer, wrapped in one layer of cotton fabric.

Cooling the affected area

Keep the burned area under a cold stream of water or a cooling compress for 10-15 to 30 minutes, periodically removing it for 30-60 seconds so as not to overcool the tissue. In this case, it is important to sit or lay the victim so that the lesion is higher than healthy areas

For example, if the foot is burned, throw the injured leg onto the armrest of the sofa, place the scalded hand on the tabletop with the elbow hanging from the edge of the table. This maneuver will help avoid massive swelling, which in turn will speed up recovery.

Treatment of the wound and application of a bandage

When the pain and burning effect has been eliminated, it is time to treat the wound and apply a clean, ideally sterile, bandage to the burned area. To disinfect and completely relieve the pain syndrome, you can use the following pharmaceutical preparations:

Antiseptic solutions - (furacilin, dioxidin);
Local painkillers - (lidocaine, novocaine);
Preparations that contain dexpanthenol - panthenol, Pantoderm, Bepanten;
Olazol is a wound-healing spray with anesthesin, chloramphenicol and sea buckthorn oil;
Sulfargin is a topical sulfonamide with silver ions.

For mild first-degree burns, you can use ointments and sprays from the list above. For second degree burns, or when the affected area is large and there are blisters, it is better to choose sprays. They are applied to the entire affected area, keeping the bottle at some distance from the skin and without touching it. After treatment, a loose sterile bandage based on linen or cotton fabric should be applied to the wound and adjacent areas of healthy tissue. In modern medicine, there are 3 main types of such dressings:

Dry, when the burn is covered with a clean, dry bandage made of linen or cotton.
Wet-drying, when a bandage is applied to the wound from the same fabric as in the previous case, but it is first moistened in cold water or an aseptic solution.
Ointment on a water-soluble basis.

The latter include pentazol, a liquid dressing that is contained in a spray bottle and is used for many skin lesions, from abrasions and donor areas to serious cuts and extensive burns. To obtain a dressing, the product is sprayed from a distance of 15-25 cm from the wound surface, capturing 1 cm of healthy skin on all sides of the affected area. This smart bandage protects against bacteria, allows the skin to breathe fully, does not dry out its surface, and after 1-2 days it separates on its own in the form of a thin film. If necessary, it can be easily washed off with regular running water without using detergents or alcohol.

Attention, for burns of such delicate areas as the face and perineum, do not use bandages. After cooling and disinfection, these areas are covered with a thick layer of Vaseline or neutral baby cream.

When to call a doctor

In most cases, you can eliminate the pain from household burns and minimize the risk of blisters on your own, but there are situations when you cannot do without medical help. The most important of them:

When 10% of the entire skin surface in a child and 25% in an adult are burned;
When there are 3rd and 4th degree burns on the face in an adult, or 2nd, 3rd or 4th degree burns in children;
When a child from infancy to 3 years of age received a burn, regardless of the area and degree of damage.

The size or area of the burn can be determined in two ways. The first method is the palm principle. That is, the area of the palm of any person is equal to 1% of the surface of his skin. If the area of the burned area is 10 palms for a child, or 25 palms for an adult, you cannot do without the help of a doctor.

The second method is called the principle of nines. It is believed that the skin area of one hand is equal to 9% of the total area,
One leg – 18%. The face and scalp are 9%, the back and front surfaces of the body are 18% each. If the affected area of the body is equal to one nine, that is, equal to the area of one arm, it is necessary to call an ambulance.

Now about the degrees. In burn medicine, there are 4 degrees of thermal injury, this classification is:

Degree 1 – the skin is red, the burn is accompanied by a local increase in temperature and burning pain.
Degree 2 – The same symptoms, but in a more active and deep manifestation, characterized by the appearance of thin-walled, easily bursting blisters with clear liquid inside.
Degree 3 – The damage is even deeper, the pain is much more intense, and the blisters have rougher and thicker walls and a cloudy filling.
Degree 4 - the damage can reach the subcutaneous tissue and muscles, the wound is deep and dark in color, the pain and burning sensation is unbearable, dehydration and painful shock often develop.

I think, even without my explanation, it is clear that when receiving burns iii and iv, the patient should be treated by a doctor with the appropriate specialization. We will return to easier cases and consider what it should be

First aid for a burn with boiling water at home for a child

In principle, first aid for thermal burns for a baby is no different from the same measure applied to adults, but there are some small nuances. Due to the fact that a child’s skin is softer and thinner, and its area is much smaller than that of an adult, the lesions are often significant. In addition, the child receives severe pain and mental shock, which also cannot be discounted. Consequently, parents are required to be quick, calm and efficient.

When the son of my friends knocked over a mug of hot tea, his parents were not taken aback. Mom immediately pulled off the baby’s clothes soaked in boiling water, and at that time dad turned on the water in the bathroom, making it pleasantly cool, a little colder than room temperature. While the mother held the child’s burned leg under cooling and pain-relieving water, the father called an ambulance; for burns in children, especially small ones, this point is mandatory. And when the burning subsided, the burn site and the skin around it were treated with sulfargin.

The emergency doctor who arrived soon after examining the child and prescribing further treatment praised the parents for their correct behavior. By the way, in that case, the baby soon recovered; there was not even a memory of the burn left on his leg, and all thanks to the fact that his mom and dad were able to provide first aid competently.

What should be first aid for oil burns at home?

Since this article is about household burns, I cannot ignore first aid for burns with vegetable oil. The situation when hot splashes unexpectedly land on your hand from a frying pan that has become white from the heat while preparing dinner is familiar to every housewife. And how should we proceed? Everything follows the same scenario as when scalding with boiling water or steam:

Quickly place the burned area under running cold water for 30 minutes;
After cooling and eliminating the burning sensation, we disinfect the affected area with one of the above medications;
We apply a sterile bandage and go to the doctor; in case of an oil burn, this is important.

Attention, if oil gets on your face, instead of a cotton bandage, apply a thick layer of Vaseline or baby cream over the disinfectant.

And yet, the boiling point of oil is 5 times higher than the boiling point of water, so blisters when hit by hot oil splashes are inevitable. They should absolutely not be opened because of the high risk of infection of the wound surface; as the skin heals, they will dry out and peel off. By the way, there are many options from traditional medicine that will help avoid the appearance of blisters and speed up the healing of the skin, if used as an ambulance, I offer some of them for your consideration in the next section.

First aid for burns with boiling water at home - folk remedies

First, I will talk about those methods that help with first-degree burns and small areas, and then I will show recipes for heavy artillery. Here is my selection, look, choose and use:

Traditional medicine recipes for first aid for minor lesions

There are quite a lot of such products in household use, look here:

Salt is an excellent remedy for disinfecting and preventing blisters from any kitchen burns. Just apply it to the affected area in a thick layer immediately after cooling under running water. Hold this compress until the salt itself begins to crumble. When the skin is completely cleared of it, you can additionally spray the burn with one of the sprays indicated in the previous sections of the article, or you can do nothing else; it will heal itself in a couple or three days, and there will be no trace left.

Flour - you must admit, every housewife also has this product. We treat it the same way as with salt, apply a thick layer to the wet burn area cooled under water and wait until everything dries and falls off by itself.

Chicken protein is also a pretty good remedy; you need to lightly beat it, after separating the yolk, and apply the entire resulting mass to the burn site. At first it will burn, but after 1-2 minutes everything will subside, and after healing there will be no trace of the burn left.

Grated potatoes - Take a medium potato, wash it thoroughly and grate it directly with the skin on the finest grater to make a paste. We apply this paste to the burn site, carry out the procedure for 1-2 hours, changing the compress every 10-15 minutes. The stronger the damage, the longer the procedure will have to be carried out and the more often the compress will be changed. Grated beets, carrots and pumpkin have the same properties.

Gray or dark laundry soap also disinfects well and helps avoid the appearance of blisters. Immediately after cooling, thoroughly rub the wet burn area with this soap and leave until dry, and rinse off before going to bed. Attention, for the procedure you need to use only real laundry soap, which was what our grandmothers used; modern white synthetic options are not suitable and can even be harmful.

Aloe - this wonderful plant lives on the windowsills of many, if not all, because its beneficial properties are so limitless that I don’t even know where aloe is not used; it is also suitable for first aid for burns. You just need to pick a few leaves, remove the thorns, mash the fleshy parts into a pulp and apply to the scalded areas. This method is suitable even for small children, because it is completely safe. If you change such a compress several times during the day, and then leave it overnight, the burn will heal very quickly, and no traces will remain of it.

Honey is also a good remedy; you simply apply it to the burn site and wash it off before going to bed. This needs to be done several times, and the skin will glow with health again.

Traditional medicine recipes for first aid for serious injuries

All recipes are also prepared from simple home remedies, medicinal plants and everything that nature gives us.

Chicken yolk recipe

Take at least 5 eggs (the more extensive the burn, the more eggs) and boil them hard, preferably for about 15 minutes, so that the yolks are firmer. Then we clean the eggs, separate the whites, and mash the yolks with a fork and fry them in a dry frying pan for 15-20 minutes. Soon, healing juice will begin to secrete from them, which must be poured into a clean container and then lubricated with it on the affected areas.

This medicine is very effective, even with deep and extensive burns it helps to completely restore the skin to its former health. It must be stored in the refrigerator.

Oak bark

Also a wonderful remedy for treating deep thermal injuries. To prepare the medicine you need to take 2 tbsp. l. Pour oak bark powder into 1 cup boiling water and simmer in a water bath until half the liquid has evaporated.

Then you need to strain the broth and add 50 g of natural fresh butter to it and mix everything thoroughly. The resulting ointment should be applied to the burned areas several times during the day, or even made into bandages by soaking the fabric in the oak-oil mixture.

Ointment for deep burns

In a water bath, melt a small piece of wax, about the size of a child’s little finger, 3 tbsp. l. Natural sunflower oil and honey, and then remove the mixture from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Next, drive in 1 chicken egg and mix everything thoroughly. We apply the resulting ointment to scalded areas 7-8 times a day, and within 3-4 days we get healthy skin.

Potassium permanganate for deep and extensive burns

And I read this method in my favorite newspaper “Healthy Lifestyle”. There, one elderly Tatar told how he, scalded with boiling water in a bathhouse, was treated by an old woman. The narrator himself was a young guy then, something happened there, and his whole back was blistered

The kind grandmother made a strong solution of potassium permanganate and every hour she carefully smeared each blister with this solution with a goose feather. A week later the guy was healthy, his skin was renewed, and there was no trace left of the burn. Many years have passed since then, and he still remembers that grandmother with a kind word.

As you can see, there are plenty of home remedies for treating and providing first aid for various types of burns, and we can talk about them endlessly. But I think that the above are quite sufficient, and now I propose what should absolutely not be used in this situation.

What should absolutely not be used as first aid for burns with boiling water, steam and oil?

It is important to know this, because incorrectly provided first aid can aggravate the injury itself, increase the time and complexity of treating a burn, and sometimes lead to irreparable consequences. Here is a list of improvised and pharmaceutical products that should absolutely not be used to treat a burn surface:

Any types of oils and fats, even sea buckthorn oil and herbal creams. After all, both fats and oils create a protective film on the skin that retains heat and increased local temperature. In addition, infection and any debris easily stick to such a base.
Products such as kefir and sour cream, because they contain acid, will only cause further irritation and pain to the affected area.
Alcohol tinctures, vodka and alcohol themselves are things that burn, they are indispensable for disinfecting a cut or abrasion, but for burns they will only do more harm.
And bandages, gauze and cotton wool cannot be used as dressing materials, because they easily stick to the wound and then injure it even more when changing the dressing.

And one more nuance, apparently useful in the treatment of burns, egg white is categorically inapplicable if the injury was caused by hot oil. In this case, it will be an even greater irritant and may even increase the infection of the wound. Well, now, as promised, I’m sharing my personal safety rules.

My safety rules when working in the kitchen and with a steam iron

To be honest, I prefer to cook and iron in splendid isolation. So you know for sure that you won’t burn either yourself or anyone at home, because no one will crawl under your arm, distract you with a question, or accidentally push you when passing by. But I don’t always have such happiness, so I have developed for myself a list of simple safety rules, which I have been adhering to for more than ten years, and which make my life and housework much easier. These are the rules:

1. In order not to get burned by boiling water, when pouring tea, coffee or filling a saucepan for dumplings, I place a glass or the same saucepan in a wide and deep container. If I suddenly miss or pour above the edge (after all, I’m blind), then hot water will pour into this container, and not onto my legs or arms.

2. When I need to drain boiling water from a vessel, for example, to discard cooked pasta, I first turn on the tap with cold water, clear a place near the sink and take a large thick towel in my hands, and a colander in the sink in advance too. I leave it out, it goes without saying. Having prepared the platform, I fold the towel in several layers and take the pan by the handles, carry it to the free space by the sink and place it on it. Next, I check how the colander is positioned and tip the pan into it, but not all at once, but little by little. At the same time, water from the cold edge flows directly into the colander, knocking off steam and diluting the boiling water from the pan.

3. If I need to open a boiling pan and stir the contents, I do this. I arm myself with an oven mitt or a towel, put my hand on the lid and move it to the side, left or right, whichever is more convenient, and at the same time I take a step back. At the same time, steam from the open pan rushes up past me, and after a few seconds I can return to the stove and stir the contents of our pan. But even here I recommend being careful; after all, the pan continues to boil, and the risk of getting burned by the steam has not gone away. Therefore, I usually stir food not with a table spoon, but with a large spoon from a set of ladle, forks, spatulas and skimmers hanging on the wall. Every housewife has such a set of items with long handles in her kitchen, so why not put them to work.

4. To avoid getting burned by the oil, I, firstly, pour it into a cold frying pan, and, secondly, I try to prevent water from getting into the heated oil. And you don’t need to prove to me that when you pour oil onto a hot frying pan, food does not stick to it, this is a myth that I personally have repeatedly refuted. To prevent food from sticking, you need to put it there in time, catching the moment when the frying pan is moderately hot. Well, to prevent water from getting into the hot oil, you need to keep your hands and food dry, towels and colanders will help you.

5. And my most important rule, which I taught my family, is that if I have hot, cutting, piercing, or spillable things and substances in my hands, I must not be distracted until I put them down or set them down. And at this time children need to strictly sit still, sometimes it’s not a sin to bark at them.

Well, that’s all, my dears, now you know what proper first aid should be for a burn with boiling water at home, and you can provide it on occasion to both a child and an adult. If you still have any questions, additions or suggestions, write them in the comments, I will answer everyone. And please, if you liked the article and found it useful, share it with your friends on social networks, the buttons for which are located just below. And I say goodbye until new posts, with love, your Tatyana Surkova.

There are four degrees of burns:

First. Excessive redness of the skin occurs. At the site of the lesion, the dermis begins to swell. Bubbles containing a colorless liquid may appear.
Second. The blisters become ruptured and later turn into scabs.
Third. Excessive damage from the epidermis to the muscles.
Fourth. Burn from the dermis to the bone tissue.

Knowledge of what first aid needs to be provided to a patient can stop the progression of painful shock and eliminate infection. With competent assistance, the tissue healing process is accelerated. If there is no information on how to provide first aid to the victim, then the basic rules are listed below:

Immediately after a person receives foot burn from boiling water, place the affected area under cold water for 15-20 minutes. This will normalize blood flow to the injured part of the body and prevent the wound from deepening.
After cooling the burned part of the body, it is necessary to apply a special gel or ointment. A sterile gauze bandage is applied on top.
If you don’t have disinfected gauze and the necessary medications at home, you should simply apply a dry, disinfected bandage.
If there is a voluminous burn of 1-2 degrees or a small burn of 3-4, then be sure to call an ambulance.
If a thermal burn does not go away for a long period of time, then this is a reason to consult a doctor.

Efficiency

You should not resort to traditional methods of treating burns, since in most cases they are not sterile and are sometimes dangerous to human health. You should always have anti-burn agents in your first aid kit.

A burn with hot liquid (boiling water) is one of the types of thermal damage to the skin and mucous membranes of a person, which is associated with the traumatic influence of high temperature water and steam. In everyday life, this type of injury occurs most often, and it is for this reason that people often lose their ability to work.

Getting a burn from boiling water can occur after a hot liquid is spilled on the body, when a limb is accidentally placed in a vessel with boiling water, or when open areas of the body come under hot steam.

Most burns from boiling water proceed more or less calmly and do not provoke any serious complications. Much depends on the scale and depth of skin trauma, which in turn depend on a number of specific conditions:

The temperature of the liquid and its type - ordinary boiling water (clean heated water) causes much less harm than a burn from hot syrup.
The amount of boiling water that gets on the body.
The speed and pressure of contact of liquid with skin.
Time of exposure of boiling water to the skin.
Features of the skin that affect contact with high temperatures.

You can notice a clear connection in the mechanisms of burns. The higher the temperature and the amount of time that boiling water comes into contact with the skin, the more severe the injury and its consequences. Taking these data into account, it is possible to determine the volume of necessary therapeutic measures that need to be provided to the victim.

According to statistics, burns from boiling water most often affect the upper extremities (especially the hands), slightly less often the feet and legs, and scalded stomachs and chests are very rare. Small affected areas, fortunately, are much more common than large ones.

Considering the degree and intensity of damage from burns with boiling water, one can understand that there are no special features here. The distribution, which includes 4 degrees, is quite simple and convenient. The first stage is characterized by the formation of hyperemic areas. During the second, blisters with liquid appear. The third stage occurs with a pronounced wound surface or moderate bleeding. In patients with the fourth degree, the entire thickness of the skin and tissues that lie deeper are affected (but after exposure to boiling water, this stage is practically not diagnosed).

First aid

Treatment at home

After providing first aid, you can begin to treat the burn itself. Not all families have special anti-burn medications in their first aid kits. In principle, there is no need to keep them at home; burns occur extremely rarely; moreover, they are not cheap and have a limited shelf life.

Effective medications against boiling water burns include:

Panthenol is probably the most famous and best remedy that can have a quick restorative effect on burn-damaged skin. Thanks to its action, you can get rid of pain and burning for a long time.
Sulfargin - belongs to the list of more modern anti-burn drugs. Sulfargin contains silver ions, which allow you to quickly and painlessly eliminate the wound.
Levomekol is an antibiotic-based ointment that is applied to gauze and applied to the wound. The compress is changed every 20 hours. During this time, the drug copes well with swelling and eliminates pus.
Olazol is an antiseptic spray with anesthetic components. Thanks to the drug, you can quickly get rid of the unwanted consequences of burns.
Polimedel is a polymer film intended for the treatment of burns by accelerating the regeneration processes of affected tissues. After use, the product activates physiological processes in the affected area.
– a drug in the form of a gel that enhances the restorative abilities of tissues. In addition, it slightly dries the wound, stimulates the processes of metabolism and tissue regeneration.

Of course, it’s good to have medications on hand, but more often than not, victims have to use what they have at home. If you self-medicate at home and use vegetables or fruits for these purposes, it is important to choose those products that have an alkalizing effect. The most famous, and at the same time simplest methods include:

Fresh carrots, rutabaga and pumpkin are grated on a fine grater or placed in a blender until a homogeneous paste is formed. The resulting mixture is spread on a piece of cloth and placed on the area burned with boiling water for 1.5 - 2 hours.
The above-mentioned vegetable mush is mixed with honey (in a 1:1 ratio) to form a paste, and applied to hyperemic skin or swollen blisters.

You can apply to the burn site:

Cabbage leaves, which were previously served with a hammer or rolling pin.
Peeled banana slices, cut half a centimeter thick.
Cut apple pieces, without peel.

If a person burns his tongue or palate, which often happens when drinking tea or coffee that is too hot, he can relieve the pain and speed up the healing process by holding any alkalizing product in his mouth.

Ginger tea has a good effect. To prepare it, just grate a little ginger root, equal to one tablespoon per glass of water, throw it into boiling water and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes. You can simply dissolve ginger powder in hot water (1 teaspoon per 1 glass of water). You can drink 2 glasses of tea a day, adding honey and a slice of lemon. It will help you quickly cope with the consequences of a burn, due to its strong healing, antiseptic and tonic effect.

During treatment, it is advised to exclude all acidic foods:

Beer and any other soda.
Fermented milk products and milk itself.
Chocolate, cocoa and coffee.
Meat.
Potatoes and rice.
White flour products.

What not to do after a burn with boiling water

Finding yourself in a stressful situation, people can make the wrong decision, relying on various arguments from acquaintances or relatives who are far from medicine. To avoid mistakes, you need to know the list of prohibited actions that cannot be done after a burn:

It is forbidden to apply medications to hot skin.
Under no circumstances should burns be treated with irritating agents such as iodine, brilliant green or toothpaste. They will not help, but will only worsen an already difficult situation.
Some people still think that burns need to be put on oil. This is a misconception, because oils block the access of oxygen to the wound. They may be useful, but only in the last stages of treatment, when you need to soften the skin.
It is contraindicated to puncture blisters and squeeze out their contents, as these actions are highly likely to lead to infection.
Rinsing the burn with water containing citric acid or soda is simply useless. There is a myth that in this way you can disinfect the wound, but in the end, the victim will only achieve complications and the formation of rough scar tissue at the site of injury.
Lubricate the skin with fermented milk products (sour cream, yogurt, kefir, etc.). Some people think that these methods will cope with a burn better than many pharmaceutical drugs, but this opinion is a mistake. The acid that is present in fermented milk products will cause additional harm and provoke infection.
Do not apply a plaster to a burn.

When is the best time to go to the doctor?

Most people do not consider burns to be serious injuries, although they can cause serious complications. In fact, the likelihood of infection entering through the wound and the development of an inflammatory process at the burn site is very high, and this threatens the formation of scars.

A mandatory visit to the doctor is necessary if the burn is on the skin of the face. Also, the burn should be shown to a specialist if the liquid inside the blister has become cloudy or red, or the surface of the blister remains tense even several days after the injury.

For high-quality opening of the bladder and treatment of wounds, it is better to contact a surgeon. Burns from boiling water in children require special attention, even if they do not look serious, it is better to show the baby to the doctor. The thing is that children develop complications in the form of bacterial infection or inflammation much faster.

The interaction of people today with various objects heated to high temperatures or containing hot liquid is commonplace. Accidentally spilling boiling water from a kettle, a dropped pan, or even careless hand washing can cause a person to get burned. Therefore, burns in industrial conditions or at home occur quite often, about 20% of cases occur in children and adolescents. What to do if you are burned by boiling water at home? What measures need to be taken to quickly heal from a burn and minimize the consequences for the skin and the whole body? Read in this article.

Let's understand: what are burns?

A burn is damage to tissues (usually superficial) of the body caused by exposure to high temperature substances, chemicals, acids and alkalis. There is also a division by type into:

Thermal burns(most common);
Chemical burns(acids, salts of heavy metals and others);
Electrical burns(occurring less frequently).

Taking into account statistical data, we can say with confidence that hot water burn ranks first in prevalence. The degree depends on the amount and degree of heating of the liquid affecting the injured area. Upon receipt, it is necessary to visually examine the site of the lesion and try to determine the extent in order to choose the right treatment tactics.

There are 4 degrees of burn. Stages 1 and 2 can be treated at home, grades 3 and 4 only with the participation of a doctor.

What degrees are there?

1st degree– the surface of the skin is predominantly affected; swelling and redness occur at the site of contact with hot liquid. Small bubbles filled with liquid may appear. Typically, a 1st degree burn heals quickly (3-7 days) and does not require special treatment.

2nd degree– swelling and redness are more pronounced, tissues are damaged to a greater depth than in grade 1. Medium or large bubbles with liquid form, and pain is present. For grade 2, the normal healing period is 12 - 16 days, pigmentation may occur on the skin at the site of the lesion, no scars remain. With the normal course of stage 2 healing, you can also do without the participation of a doctor.

3rd degree– at grade 3, not only the layers of the skin are affected, but also the muscles and ligaments. A so-called scab appears on the surface of the skin around which bubbles with liquid are located, there is severe pain and swelling. In case of a severe 3rd degree burn, inflammation and the appearance of pus in the wound occur; treatment is carried out only with the involvement of a qualified doctor or in a burn center; healing time is 30 - 50 days. After the injury site has completely healed, a scar will remain on the skin.

4th degree– the most severe degree, characterized by the formation of numerous black scabs, the tissues become charred, and the development of anaphylactic shock is possible. In everyday life, as a rule, the risk of getting grade 4 is unlikely; of course, such injuries are treated only in health care facilities.

The danger is not only in local skin damage, but also in poisoning the body with decay products of burned tissues; patients with large-area burns (from 25% for 1st and 2nd degrees and from 10% for 3rd and 4th degrees) must be treated under the supervision of a doctor.

How to calculate the percentage of body surface damage

Quite simply using the palm measurement method (Glumov method). 1 palm = 1% body area. You can also use the Wallace method or, as it is otherwise called, the method of nines. According to this method, the legs are considered to be 18% of the body, the arms are considered to be 9%, and the head is also considered to be 18%. Torso for 36%.

Help immediately after a burn

Truly, in a situation with a burn victim, help should be timely and urgent, because the faster the necessary measures are taken to a person, the fewer problems and complications there will be in the future. There is no need to be nervous and panic, first aid it's not difficult, try to follow a set of simple steps.

What you need to do right away:

The first and very important task is to remove the heated liquid from the surface of the skin and all objects that were in the affected area at the time of the incident (elements or fragments of clothing, rings, watches, etc.);

Then you need to cool the damaged area under running cold water or immerse it in water for about 20-30 minutes. If it is not possible to use water, you can apply ice or cold objects from the freezer to the burned area. If the skin is severely damaged and there is a wound, do not cool the burn with water!

After cooling, you need to protect the affected area from infection and exposure to external factors and apply a bandage. The bandage can be gauze, or it will be just a clean scarf; it is advisable to use local anesthetics and antiseptics when applying the bandage. Fits good Solcoseryl in the form of a gel or ointment, can also be used for grade 1 Bepanten or Panthenol.

If the burn is serious and there is severe pain, take a painkiller.

When to call doctors?

The right decision would be to call an ambulance or go to a health care facility if:

In infants. If it happens that your newborn child is burned, immediately call an ambulance; children of this age should be treated only under the supervision of a qualified specialist;

Serious 3rd or 4th degree burn. In case of extensive damage or damage to a large area, qualified medical care is also required; the victim is treated in a hospital;

If healing is poor, the wound does not heal, or pus appears, you also need to see a doctor to rule out a number of pathologies.

What not to do

In case of a severe burn, clothing may stick to the skin, no need to tear it off, apply a bandage over it and take the victim to the hospital;

It is also forbidden to puncture the resulting blisters, as this can cause infection of the wound;

It is prohibited to apply all types of oils to the affected area during therapy;

Use products such as iodine, brilliant green or medical alcohol.

Treatment at home

Treatment at home allowed if these are 1st and 2nd degree burns, not complicated by inflammation and infection. To quickly get rid of the consequences, you can use both traditional pharmaceutical products and traditional medicine recipes.

If an open wound has formed, it must be bandaged at least once a day; be sure to wash your hands before bandaging. You can easily remove the old bandage by soaking it with hydrogen peroxide. Then apply antiseptic treatment to the edges (do not apply it to the burn itself!) available means (iodine, brilliant green or others). Then apply one of the following medications to the damaged skin.

Traditional proven means:

Solcoseryl– available in the form of a gel or ointment, accelerates healing and promotes the rapid formation of healthy tissue in the affected area, has an antiseptic effect, and performs a drainage function.

Panthenol or Dexpanthenol– the most affordable remedy. Perfectly regenerates skin, tissues and mucous membranes. It is also an analgesic and a cooling agent for the surface of the epidermis, eliminating the burning effect.

Bepanten– the highest quality product, used for extensive skin lesions and problems with tissue regeneration, has a pronounced antiseptic effect. The most expensive product on our list.

Traditional medicine:

Plantain leaves - To treat a burn with plantain, you need fresh, not withered leaves; they need to be thoroughly washed and applied to the area of skin, pressing with a bandage. They have an antiseptic effect.

Potato - Potatoes and their derivatives have long proven themselves in the treatment of skin burns; this is a fairly simple remedy and is suitable for everyone: cut the potato into slices and apply them, changing them every 3 hours. Perfectly eliminates burning sensation on the skin.

Carrot pulp– Pour boiling water over the carrots, wash, grate on a fine grater and apply the resulting pulp to the damaged area. You can use a bandage for better retention; the carrot juice should get onto the damaged tissue. Change at least once every 2 hours.

Tea brewing – You can use this simple recipe if you want to cool the surface of the skin and relieve itching and burning. Apply fresh tea leaves, pre-steamed and cooled, to the affected area, changing every 1.5 hours.

A burn to the leg from boiling water is severe damage. Everyone needs to know how to properly provide first aid in such a case. Any burn from steam or boiling water is a domestic injury received by a person for various reasons. How to treat it correctly?

Before you begin providing first aid, you need to find out the degree of the burn - treatment depends on this.

There are 4 degrees of burns, each with its own symptoms:

Severe redness occurs in the damaged area of the body and post-burn swelling occurs. Bubbles with liquid inside may appear.
The appearance of tense or opened blisters after a burn, which subsequently form into a scab, and swelling occurs.
The skin is damaged down to the muscles, then a scab forms and blisters burst.
Deep damage to the body to the bone.

What to do for burns from boiling water? How to provide first aid to a victim?

Such measures must be urgent. Clear and consistent actions can help prevent severe complications after a burn. Prevention consists of the following measures:

Complete elimination of contact of the damaged area of skin with boiling water. To do this, it is necessary to remove the heat source from the burned surface as quickly as possible. It is worth removing all objects that were on the body at the time of the burn.
Create all the necessary hypothermic conditions for the skin after a burn. This should be done in order to cool overheated tissues, which maintain a fairly high temperature for a long time after receiving a burn, while the severity of the primary injury is aggravated. Immediately after a burn, the injured limb should be placed in cold water. The procedure should take at least half an hour. If the burning does not go away, the procedure must be repeated. You can achieve the desired cooling by using ice or applying any cold object to the affected area.
After the procedure, the injured leg should be carefully dried and covered with a loose sterile bandage. You cannot tighten or bandage it too much, because this will intensify the pain.
What to do if you have a first degree burn on your leg? An alcohol solution or vodka works well; a simple cologne will do. You should not use iodine or brilliant green to neutralize the burn, as in the future it will be difficult for a specialist to determine the extent of the damage.
Do not rush into panic and pour all kinds of oils, fats and ointments onto the post-burn lesion. With such “help,” the removal of heat from the damaged area will slow down, which is undesirable in this situation.

Medications

Edema, swelling, and pain after a person has been burned can be cured with the help of certain medications that are most effective and safe. The use of such protective equipment is allowed only for 1st and 2nd degree burns.

Common means of combating damage are gels and ointments:

Panthenol is an ointment that promotes the formation and rapid restoration of all damaged mucous membranes and skin. It is capable of exerting metabolic and regenerative effects on the entire damaged tissue surface.
Argovasna Nut is a gel that copes with the restoration and stimulation of metabolic and regenerative processes. The components that make up the drug help stimulate the regeneration processes of damaged skin cells. relieve swelling. When using the gel, post-traumatic recovery is significantly accelerated, and there are no scars left on the body.
Riciniol is an antiseptic with unique anti-inflammatory, cleansing, regenerating and analgesic effects. This drug has components that help restore the cell membrane. Due to the special structure of the medicine, a film does not form, so the pores do not become clogged. The ointment is effective for 1st and 2nd degree burns.
Polimedel is a polymer film that can not only heal a burn with boiling water, but also accelerate the process of regeneration of all damaged tissues. When used, physiological processes are activated.
Solcoserine is a gel that has a fat-free base, thanks to which tissue regeneration is activated. The drug accelerates all metabolic processes, improves wound healing and reduces pain.

If there is a 2nd degree, the dressing must be done by a specialist, and primary treatment of the entire damaged area is carried out. It is necessary to use appropriate products and apply a sterile dressing to prevent infection of the wound. Otherwise, serious complications may arise in the form of suppuration and tissue necrosis.

The procedure for applying a bandage during closed treatment:

first of all, it is necessary to anesthetize the victim;
the skin around all wounds is subject to antiseptic treatment;
Adhered shreds of clothing, existing contaminants and dead epithelium should be removed from the existing burn surface;
if there are sufficiently large water bubbles, then they should be trimmed on both sides, all the existing liquid should be released from them and left in such a state that the wounds are protected from possible mechanical damage;
the bandage is treated with special bactericidal preparations and applied to the damaged area of the patient’s skin.

Any remedy should be used after consultation with a doctor. Drugs are selected according to the extent of the affected area and the size of the injury.

ethnoscience

If you are only slightly burned, treatment at home can be carried out using numerous traditional medicine recipes that are time-tested and will help get rid of excruciating pain. Any creams will help treat post-burn areas that are swollen. They promote the removal of edema and tissue regeneration.

Folk remedies can soothe pain and prevent serious complications. They must be used after consultation with a doctor. Self-treatment can be harmful.

Plants and home remedies are used. Popular folk methods for burns:

Aloe juice. Take gauze and soak it in juice, then apply it to the damaged area of skin.
Tea. Apply compresses with tea to damaged areas about 8 times a day.
Plantain. Freshly picked leaves of the plant do an excellent job of treating damaged skin after burns. Before use, the leaves should be washed with boiled water and cooled.
Blueberry. Boil the berries for 10 minutes in a small amount of water, cool and grind. The mixture is applied to the damaged area of skin and fixed with a special bandage.
Potato starch. Take 1 tbsp. means, dilute in a glass of warm water. The mixture is cooled and applied to damaged areas 3 times a day.

What not to do for burns

During the treatment of burns it is prohibited:

cut off or puncture water blisters yourself, otherwise you can introduce an infection into the wound, which will subsequently lead to serious complications;
lubricate damaged skin with any oil;
resort to the use of traditional methods of treatment in the presence of open wounds, because products are not always sterile, and this contributes to infection;
cauterize an existing burn with alcohol, iodine or brilliant green, because after this the specialist will not be able to assess the extent of the damage and prescribe the correct treatment;
try to independently tear off clothing stuck to an existing burn - these actions contribute to the opening of the wound and its subsequent infection.

Treatment of 3rd and 4th degree burns takes place only in a hospital, since these are very serious injuries to the skin, tissues and muscles, and independent treatment of such injuries can only harm the general condition of the patient. Severe burns are accompanied by unbearable pain. The victim is given anti-shock therapy, and specialists prescribe injections with painkillers. It is important to calm the person, prevent panic and begin qualified treatment.

Surgical treatment is aimed at correcting the defect, after which plastic surgery is necessary. The main task in treating burns with surgical intervention is the complete removal of the toxic substance, the prevention of possible suppuration and the restoration of all processes in the area of the wound.

When to contact a specialist

People always rely on their own strength and do not even think about the fact that they can harm themselves. Very often treatment is carried out at home using improvised means. But a burn from boiling water in many cases has serious consequences. Tissue swelling occurs. The wound can fester and lead to extensive tissue necrosis, and this will cause very serious irreversible consequences.

Professional help is necessary if you have a burn over a large area of your body, especially if it is accompanied by peeling skin. In this case, you cannot do it on your own.

After a burn, the help of a specialist is necessary if the victim has about 10-15% of the skin damaged, because it is necessary to treat the damaged surface with sterile preparations and carry out anti-shock therapy, because the patient feels severe pain.

If you receive a 3-4 degree burn or the injury site becomes infected, you must call a doctor 1-2 days after the injury.

Burns from boiling water are a common household injury that requires immediate treatment.

It is necessary to follow safety rules when working with hot liquids to avoid getting burned.