What else to do for a burn?

Rajah

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 17, 1999
Messages
9,633
DH burnt his hand a little cooking dinner tonight. Not enough to warrant an ER visit or anything, but as all burns do, it hurts. :(

Aside from cold water and ice, is there anything more that can be done?
 
I put aloe gel on all my burns. Takes the sting away. They sell it with sun tan lotions.
 
Ibuprofen. It helps take down the swelling and takes away some of the pain.
Works ok for sunburn too.
 
According to WebMD:

Immediate first aid for burns
Run cool tap water over the burn for 10 to 20 minutes. Do not use ice.
 

You're actually not supposed to use ice. Just cold water. Hold it under cold water for several minutes and the aloe is a good suggestion too.
 
I second the cool water & aloe thing. I have been told no ice as well. Just give him pain killer and hopefully it will feel better. Oh and don't sure anything like neosporin either... that will trap the heat and keep it "burning" instead of helping it to heal (so I am told). I hope it feels better soon :)
 
Cold water and then add baking soda to the burn. It helps take the burn out pretty well.
 
Thanks everyone!

(WebMD huh? I'll have to remember that one)
 
My grandfather had a drycleaners for years and treated his burns by putting shaving cream on them. Old fashioned spray can shaving cream. It gives immediate relief. I have a friend who is a paramedic and one day he wanted to stump us on some first aid questions. He asked what paramedics used on burns and was surprised when I answered shaving cream. That was the correct answer. It cools immediately, seals off the area and does not have to be scrubbed off.
 
I acutally just suffered some pretty awful burns last weekend. I put my hand down on a searing hot grill. (Don't ask - long story - I knew full well it was hot, but in the moment, there were no other options - we were preventing another boat from hitting us!)

Anyway, I happened to have a woman on my boat with me who suffered burns over more than 50% of her body a few years ago in a terrible accident. While I was crying in pain, she kept insisting we put honey on it. Ordinary honey. I have yet to research it (just now able to type without shooting pain!) but let me tell you, as nuts as I thought she was, I believed her, and boy did it work. :bounce:

She insisted it would help with the blistering. And it DID. You have to put it on and let it sting. After that, it feels better. :)

The burns on my fingers never even blistered, even though they were incredibly painful... one giant burn on my palm DID blister, but I think that's because it was a 2nd degree burn that we probably should have gone to the clinic for. :crazy: Oh well, live and learn.

But it did blister gently and relatively painlessly, just drained when I was mopping the other day, and now it's turning to scar tissue.

Just my 2 cents! :)

Julia
 
An over the counter, Foille Ointment has worked for us.
Shaving cream - wow - that's interesting - I'll remember that one.
 
Funny that I should read this tonight!

I had to take DD 3 to the Dr. today b/c she burned her hand on the iron today:( ...I know bad mommy!!!

Anyway they gave us a prescription antibiotic cream and said to keep it bandaged til 4 days after the blisters pop.

The kicker is I was ironing her clothes to back, b/c we leave saturday a.m. for disney land!!!
The doc, also said no swimming until 4 days after the blisters pop!!:( Guess we wont be swimming after the parks!

Evidently burns can get infected really easily..so keep a close eye on it!
 
Last weekend, I burned myself cooking. On my leg. Not fun.

It's good to have a doctor in the family. :) I was just told, since the skin wasn't broken, to just treat the symptoms. Cool water/ice for swelling, stinging and pain. And a pain reliever for the same reasons. Kept it cool all evening, and it hasn't bothered me since. Except the scar. :( Darn boiling tomato sauce, it will do it every time!
 
Wet a tea bag in cold water and wrap the bag around the burned area. The tannic (sp.) acid in the tea takes the sting right out.
 
I had a tiny little burn on my palm that absolutely screamed every time I took it out of the cold water. After a few hours of keeping it in water, I called my Dad ( a retired Dr.). He recommended covering it so absolutely no air could get to it. I wrapped it, put a sock on it, and wrapped it again. It took a few minutes, but the pain subsided and I was able to go to sleep. In the morning the pain wasn't a problem any more so neither was the air. Maybe the honey and the shaving cream are a really effective way of keeping the air out - I'll have to try it next time.
 
Make a compress with Witch Hazel and lay it on the burn. It pulls the heat out and eases the pain.
 
This may or may not be up your alley, but try vinegar. It smells horrible, but it worked wonders on my monstrous sunburn a couple of years ago.
 
I never heard of not putting ice on a burn before, but I'm glad I didn't..About 2 years ago DS2 (at the time) put his hand on the electric burner not long after I had turned it off..(I know, bad mommy, there's nothing worse you can say than I already have said to myself-and I was standing right there, too..) Without reliving the whole awful experience, we immediately put a bag of ice wrapped with a towel on it. It stopped the hurt immediately, but you could see where the skin was damaged. So with ice pack applied, we visited the local emergency clinic, DS clutching (and stopped crying by now) his ice pack. They said that if he hadn't had the ice pack on immediately, he would have suffered more severe burns. After we left, he didn't need the ice pack anymore, and he was back to his old self.. We didn't even use the medication they gave us to help him sleep, just a little Tylenol. When we returned the next day for them to check it, they said there would be minor blistering..nothing compared to what it would have been without the ice... I guess we were just lucky...:(
 
Funny this thread it here tonight... I have a nasty habit of burning myself. Working in a restaurant will make you immune to it...

I splashed some cooking oil that had been heating up for a while on my fore arm this evening. You can see the darker red lines where the oils "slide" and the small red dots all around it. No blisters yet, I immediately put it in cold water..... It's still stinging.. like a "you know what". Maybe some shaving cream..

I always heard that by putting ice on a burn shocks the skin going from one extreme to another and it's possible that can "kill" or damage some of the skin and nerves to the point of more scaring. Something along those lines...
 














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