Don’t pop the blisters, as they are prone to infection. It doesn’t matter if there are big blisters, they can be absorbed slowly. Try to tolerate the itchiness.
Emergency treatment after burns
In daily life, skin burns are common, especially in summer, such as hot water bottles bursting or being knocked over, colliding with each other when flushing water, children playing in the kitchen resulting in boiling water scalds, or children accidentally entering the bath. A hot tub that is not competing for temperature; the most serious case is severe facial steam burns caused by a malfunctioning steam valve when cooking rice porridge or mung bean soup in a pressure cooker.
In case of these burns, first of all, do not panic, and do not rush to take off thin clothes such as undershirts and stockings. Rinse immediately with cold water. After cooling down, carefully take off your personal clothes to avoid tearing blisters formed after burns. The purpose of cold water flushing is to relieve pain, reduce oozing and swelling, and thereby avoid or reduce blister formation. The flushing time should be about half an hour or more, until you feel no pain when you stop flushing. Generally, the water temperature is about 20℃. Avoid using ice water to avoid frostbite. If the burn is on your fingers, you can also take a cold bath. Cold compresses can be used on areas such as the face that cannot be rinsed or bathed. After treating with cold water, dry the wound, then apply a thin layer of ointment such as blue hydrocarbon, green ointment, etc., and then bandage it appropriately for 1 to 2 days to prevent blisters. However, the face can only be exposed and does not need to be bandaged. If blisters form, you can use a sterilized syringe to aspirate them or cut a small hole to release the water. If the blisters have broken, wipe them dry with sterilized cotton balls to keep them dry and prevent the water from accumulating into lumps. If you burn 1 or 2 fingers, you can also use a simple method - immerse them in soy sauce, that is, use a small cup of soy sauce to infiltrate your fingers. It will relieve pain in about half an hour without causing blisters. Do not apply violet solution or mercurochrome after a burn, so as not to affect the observation of changes in the wound surface after the injury. Extensive or severe burns should be taken to the hospital immediately after general emergency home care.
For skin burns, pay attention to cleaning and drying the wound, and avoid immersing it in water after rinsing with cold water. The wound will dry after about 2 to 3 days. There is no need to apply medicine at this time. The scab will heal in about 10 days. If it does not heal by then, you should ask your doctor to see if the burn is deep or infected. Antibiotics are generally not used after burns. If the wound is still red, swollen and painful after 1 to 2 days, it is suspected of infection and can be treated under the guidance of a doctor to avoid unnecessary pain.
"Rinse, soak, cover, and remove" are the five steps for emergency burn treatment. The first step is to flush a large amount of water for at least half an hour to reduce the time the heat stays in the wound. Take off your clothes, soak the affected area in cold water, cover it, and send it to a doctor for first aid.
The most important thing in the hospital is to treat tetanus, disinfect the wound, and apply burn ointment. The most common question asked by patients is: Should I pop the blisters? In fact, this aspect also requires the clinical judgment of the doctor. Especially for some larger blisters and joints that are more likely to break, the doctor will use a hollow needle to extract the blisters.
If it is a superficial second-degree wound, it will usually heal within two weeks, and there will usually be no scar if it is not infected. The patient goes to the hospital for dressing changes every two days and uses antibiotic ointment.
General burn ointments have strong penetrating properties, so it is recommended to be used on deeper wounds. During this two- to three-week recovery period, be careful not to get water on the wound. If the affected area is on the foot, one week after seeking medical treatment, it is recommended that the patient elevate the foot and reduce walking, so that it will be less painful. If the wound is painful, you can use some painkillers or apply a slight ice pack to lower the temperature of the wound to reduce the pain.
Will burns leave scars? In fact, the most important thing between burns and scars is the healing time. If it can heal within two weeks, 70% of the time there will be no scars. If it takes more than three weeks, most of them will still have scars. So the next third stage is to deal with burn scars.
The problem of burn scars mainly has two levels: the first is color, and the second is lumps and bumps. If there is only color, two or three months after the burn, the patient is advised to use sun protection or wear long sleeves to avoid direct exposure of the sun's ultraviolet rays to the affected area. Next is the raised scar. If there is a raised scar, the patient will be advised to use elastic clothing. At present, the most effective method for patients with burns is to use the pressure of elastic clothing. If used continuously for six months to a year, the degree of scarring can be minimized. After these three stages of treatment, scars can usually be treated in the best possible condition. Your current situation is to prevent and treat infection. If you need to wash, it is usually better to use physiological saline.