First aid for thermal burns

By severity, they distinguish four degrees of burn:

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  1st degree - redness of the skin;
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  2 nd degree - formation of blisters with serous contents;
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  3rd degree - deep skin lesion until necrosis;
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  4th degree - charring.

The degree of thermal burn usually depends on the damage factor (flame, liquid, steam or incandescent objects). Burning flame usually has a relatively large area, its depth in most cases does not exceed 2 degrees. Burn with liquid also usually has a small area with a greater depth - 2-3 degrees. Steam burn has a large area, but the damage is relatively shallow. Area burn with a burning object is limited by the size of the object, such a burn can have a large depth, up to 4 degrees.

Of course, the degree of burn will depend onmany factors, for example, on the duration of exposure to high temperatures. A wrongly rendered help with thermal burns can cause additional injuries when removing clothing or an object that caused a burn. Therefore it is very important to know first aid rules for thermal burns.

First of all it is necessary remove the damaging factor. If clothes are burning, it is necessary to extinguish the fire: pour water or bring it down with a cloth. If the fire is strong, you can not pour it with a small amount of water: it will not only not extinguish it, but it can also exacerbate the damage, immediately evaporating. Therefore, such a fire should be poured with plenty of water, or be knocked down with a cloth.

From the baked area of ​​the body you should try to carefully remove your clothes, but if it sticks, you can not tear it off! Adherent clothing is left on the burn site, gently trimming the fabric around, after which it is necessary to take the victim to the emergency room or call an ambulance to burn specialists.

Then you need to cool the burn place. First and second degree burns coolrunning water for 10-15 minutes. For third-degree and fourth-degree burns, a clean wet bandage is applied and then the place of the burn is cooled together with the bandage in the standing water. You can not cool the place of the burn with ice!

After cooling the burn site, apply sterile dry bandage (make sure that it is not tight) and provide the victim complete peace. Let the victim drink as much liquid as possible.

The further actions will depend on that,how severe was the burn. Burns of the first and second degree without complications can be completely treated at home (note that you can use the means to treat burns only after completely cooling the affected area). And in the following cases, after first aid is given, it is necessary to call an ambulance:

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  third or fourth degree burn;
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  the burn area is more than 5% of the body (1% of the body takes 1 palm of the injured person);
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  the inguinal region, head, nose, mouth, respiratory tract (inhalation of steam), two extremities are burnt;
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  the victim is a child or an elderly person;
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  The burn is combined with another injury (for example, a fracture).

What can not be done with burns? As already mentioned, you can not tear off the burnadhered clothes, so as not to cause additional injuries. Also, one should try to touch as little as possible the burned areas of the body, it is forbidden to open the formed bubbles.

You can not smear just burned place ointments, creams, panthenol, butter, protein,sour cream and any other means from burns. This will only worsen the condition and make further treatment of burns more difficult. Moreover, it is impossible to treat the burned place with urine!

Everyone should know how first aid is provided for thermal burns, after all Burn - this is one of the most common types of injuries that a person may encounter in everyday life. It is worth remembering that the above recommendations concern only thermal burns, with chemical burns, first aid is different.