How do you treat a burn?

Le Olive

My husband was cleaning the kitchen last night. He was going to scrub the burner (we have natural gas) and grabbed the metal cover thingy to clean it. He didn't see that the flame was on because it was set to low. I felt really guilty because I didn't turn it off.

Anyway, it hurt him so badly that he slept with a flexible ice pack tied to his hand with a rag. Is there much else we could have done? I feel so bad for him! 

Thusadeedoo

My mom always says to stick it in a tomato as soon as it happens. Something about the insides of the fruit that heals it.

Now that its too late for that I would probably just put some sort of burn cream on it.

akalutts

Ice no good for burns. eep. As long as it didn't blister, the ice use shouldn't really hurt him though.

Next time, just have him run his hand under cool (NOT COLD) water for as long as he can stand. If it blisters, leave it alone, do not pop it, do not put anything on it. If it blisters and breaks, depending on the size of the area, go see the doc and try to get silvadine cream (SSD). It's the only safe thing to put on burns (at least for novices.)

 

KKM

Thusadeedoo:

My mom always says to stick it in a tomato as soon as it happens. Something about the insides of the fruit that heals it.

Now that its too late for that I would probably just put some sort of burn cream on it.

yeah, dont do that.

Really not much you can do.  You can get aloe with Lidocane in it that may help the pain a little.  Other than that keep it clean and dry, and ice will help.  Hopefully it starts to feel better soon!

andrew's wifey

I'd say Dermoplast (or solarcaine, or the like) and ibuprofen at this point.  

Burns are the worst. 

Le Olive

It wasn't really ice, just a cool pack thing. But that's probably bad too, if ice is wrong.

We did run it under water, but we don't have burn cream. Maybe we should get some. He said he couldn't take the cold pack off for more than like two seconds. 

I hope he didn't make it worse. 

SBma

I have a burn cream at home (can't remember the name...sorry) and then I would take Advil. 

akalutts

Le Olive:

It wasn't really ice, just a cool pack thing. But that's probably bad too, if ice is wrong.

We did run it under water, but we don't have burn cream. Maybe we should get some. He said he couldn't take the cold pack off for more than like two seconds. 

I hope he didn't make it worse. 

Basically, cold isn't good for burns because it kills the damaged skin cells instead of letting them heal. So in a LARGE burn, it means the skin can fester and rot (gross, sorry.) If he has a good amount of blisters, and if they have popped, it's probably worth him seeing the doc. Tylenol is great for the pain, but really, the only time to put Over The Counter burn creams on a burn is when you just barely burn yourself. Even then, it's just really not worth it (mainly because it doesn't really do anything).

(Solarcaine is great for sunburns, but I would not use it on burn burns, especially on broken skin. It can damage the skin and keep it from healing properly.)

Le Olive

Thanks, aka. He did take Tylenol so I guess we did something right. I feel like such a first aid dummy.

I don't think it's bad enough to cause any real damage, but it could have been worse so I'll keep all of this info in my back pocket. 

akalutts

Le Olive:

Thanks, aka. He did take Tylenol so I guess we did something right. I feel like such a first aid dummy.

I don't think it's bad enough to cause any real damage, but it could have been worse so I'll keep all of this info in my back pocket. 

No problem - we are first aid junkies. Our first aid kits are embarrassingly complete. You should have seen us when we got our first kit with actual sutures - we were like kids in a freaking candy shop. (DH was a Medic for a few years.)

Le Olive

Sutures?! LOL! Amazing.

macncheeze

I know this is going to sound really weird but put honey on it. I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to burn like a b!tch while it's on. Keep it on as long as possible, it will help. Promise.