Re: Small third degree burns
I know this thread is old, but there is quite a bit of bad information here that should be cleared up.
In the past we would refer to burns in the ER on a scale first second third, fourth fifth (4 and 5 are just as awful as you imagine)
Burn injuries are all judged on a point scale just like a GCS (stroke assessment) APGAR (Health of a Newborn) etc. We used to judge the severity using a generalized scale that would account for severity and percent of body area affected. It was called the rule of nines, each of 11 areas represented 9% of the body and that's how you would make a determination or how critical someone was and whether they needed the burn center.
It was a bad system
Burns can be very very bad news. They are all incredibly painful, but some may be life threatening and not appear terribly serious, or could put the loss of a limb at risk, and they are all incredibly risky for developing serious infection. There are other major complications ill get to in a second
We now judge burns differently. there are 1st degre, partial thickness, full thickness and 4th or cooked. a full thickness burn means total loss of tissue and is also painless. partial thickness will hurt like a motherfucker.
While severity and coverage are still main factors, (>10%)all pediatric burn victims are conssidered serious-critical also all elderly, any burn that affects the face, hands, feet or genitals makes your critical. Also any inhalation burns and anyone who may already be immuno comprised are immediately considered critical.
Finally any burn that is circumferential, a burn that circles around to form a ring on an extremity is a serious burn and potentially ccritical. Circumferential burns as they begin to heal with tighten substantially and will cut off circulation and lead to severe ischemia and possible tissue death.
On top of all that, any burn covering more than 10 percent in children or 15 percent in adults is life threatening,
The odds of going into hypovolemic shock due to fluid loss are high, also because of your dpressed vitals many times analgesics are off the table. That means the most painful injury imagineable may require extremely limited use of painkillers. finally infection is a huge huge issue, not only from the decreased immune response and open wounds, but burned tissue will constrict blood flow and physically block iv antibiotics for reaching certain areas of the body.
Silvadine is one of the most common part of a larger treatment depending on severity. Its not a 'burn cream at all' in fact its not very good for your recovery at all but at that pont there not much else. Silver like many of the transitional earth metals, like gold brass lead and aluminum are actually naturally anti biotic. as a result this is one of the best ways we are actually able to get something into the would to kill all the shit that's starting to fester without trying an IV. Next time your in a hospital take a look at all the door plates, they are all made of brass. htis is one of a billion newer changes made to try to descrease the risk of hospital born infection.
Also the term born iht a silver spoon in his mouth was a practice actually done by the wealthy to newborns to inhibit possible lethal infections from developing in the first few days of life.
When I was younger and working Vollie EMS/Fire, I woke up to a fire in the apt next to me at school. I fought the fire and the fire won, bigtime... Burns fucking suck and need to be checked out, althoughugh I was in tons of pain if they ddint catch the overlapping areas on my arm I would of been in deep shit.
finally of course none of this should be taken or considered as medical advice, it is only my opionon.
Of course none of this should be considered medical advice or
