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How To Treat Minor Burns & Scalds

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How To Treat Minor Burns & Scalds

Treat Minor Burns & Scalds. Be prepared for household accidents. Our guide will show you a quick and effective method to reduce discomfort and aid healing.

Step 1:

You will need

Step 2:

Soothe with cold water

Now help the person hold their injured limb under running cold water for at least 10 minutes. This will ease the pain by helping to cool the injury and keep the skin well hydrated. If there is no water to hand, try cold canned drinks, milk or any other harmless non-flammable liquid.

Step 3:

Make the person comfortable

Make the injured person comfortable. If possible, help them to sit down at a table where you can put your first aid supplies.

Step 4:

Wash hands thoroughly

Now, using soap, wash and dry your hands thoroughly and put on a pair of disposable gloves if available

Step 5:

Remove jewellery or restrictive garments

Remove any jewellery, watches, belts or restrictive clothing from the injured area in case of swelling
If blisters develop be careful not to burst them

Step 6:

Apply burn cream

Read the instructions carefully before applying the burn cream. If there are any blisters be careful not to burst them, as this might cause an infection.

Step 7:

Apply dressing

Cover the injured part with a non-stick sterile dressing to help stop infection. If there is blistering, make sure the dressing extends well beyond the edges of it.

Step 8:

Apply bandage

Next bandage the dressing loosely in place. Watch VideoJug film ‘how to apply a roller bandage' for the full technique.

Step 9:

Check circulation

Once you have finished, check the circulation of the injured limb by pressing on one of the nails or skin of the hand until it becomes pale. Then release, and if the colour does not come back within 2 to 3 seconds, then circulation is likely to be impaired and the bandage too tight.
Take the bandage off, if this doesn't improve circulation, remove all restrictive bandaging, hold dressings in place and immediately seek medical advice.

Step 10:

Seek medical advice

You should seek medical advice if you are worried about the severity of the burn. Be aware that when any skin is burned away there is an increased risk of infection which may develop at any point before the wound is fully healed

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How Do I Treat Minor Burns & Scalds

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1 out of 2 people found this comment helpful

Anonymous (61 days ago)

My daughter just burned her fingers on both hands by moving a hot Breville toaster. She's put them under the hot water for over half an hour, but they are starting to blister. After logging on to your website I will now bandage her fingers to stop the stinging. thank you

Anonymous (61 days ago)

Me again I did not put a dressing or anything on the burn either have I completly screwed up?

0 out of 2 people found this comment helpful

Anonymous (61 days ago)

Can anyone help I caught my arm on a baking tray at work and I don't know what to do I didid it two days a go there were very small blisters but they popped I have a 2cm long burn which is not very deep where the blistershave popped they have formed a scab but I have developed a red circle around it that goes white when pressed. Do I have an infection?

Anonymous (117 days ago)

There is an Aloe Vera based ointment available in the UK. It is called Flamasine and is excellent for burns. I have also used the leaf from a plant and it too works in a miraculous fashion.They can be bought at garden centres and grown indoors.

2 out of 2 people found this comment helpful

Anonymous (164 days ago)

thanks all those comments really helped, just spilt extremely boiling water on my hand, will use no cream and put it in cold water hopefully it'll work!!!!

Anonymous (185 days ago)

hairy arm

Anonymous (268 days ago)

lol tht man got owned

1 out of 1 person found this comment helpful

manicbeader (287 days ago)

I have only been a first aider fo aboutr 50 years, so dont know too much. I scalded the inside of my upper arm with steam recently and had to got to A&E. I only used cold water and let them dress it. They used a gel dressing, which took the pain away, and was advised to return in 24 hrs. I did so,it was re dressed and I was signed off . Their treatment worked. What YOU put on may have to be scraped off in hospital. Never use cream. It isnt sterile once the tube has been opened so you may be putting bugs onto a nice ripe source

Anonymous (295 days ago)

I burnt myself with boiling wax. the pain was unbearable for8hrs. the only relief was cold water. tap water worked well but i could not stand at sink for 8hrs so ice water in a bag worked well. the next morning I have no pain.so god bless natures finest COLD WATER

Anonymous (341 days ago)

Yesterday afternoon I took the cap off my car’s radiator and 2 seconds later super boiling hot water shot out of the radiator completely engulfing my left hand. I was in instant agony. Fortunately, my wife was able to get a large enough bowl of water filled with SOME (not a lot) ice and I kept my hand submerged in the semi icy water. The icy water kept me from going crazy with pain and soothed the searing heat. We then drove immediately to the Emergency Room, and all the while I kept putting more ice in the bowl. The icy water didn’t stop all the pain but it sure did keep it from getting worse. As soon as I was seen all the doctors and nurses wanted me to keep my hand out of the icy water! They wanted to put some burn cream on my hand, which I found out only prevents infection, and wrap it in gauze. Every time I tried to do this the pain came screaming back and I could see water blisters starting to form. So they gave me a big shot of Morphine but that didn’t even touch the pain. The only thing that worked was the semi icy water. Finally I let them apply the cream and wrap it but within seconds the pain became overwhelming. So I took off the bandage and put my hand back into the icy water and left the Emergency Room. From 4pm yesterday afternoon till 10- pm last night I kept it in icy water. I then took my hand out quickly dried it and then smeared a thick coat of Desitin (diaper rash cream that has 40% Zinc Oxide) all over my hand. I then put my hand back in the water until 3 am when the pain in my hand finally subsided. To my joy I formed no blisters!!!!! The skin on my hand feels really tight because it has swelled some put that’s it!!!!! I think Doctor should study why this worked better than smearing antibiotic cream and gauze on my hand. Ice is used to keep swelling down, and I know that the semi icy water kept my burn from getting much worse. Can anyone tell me why the Doctors and nurses were so against using semi icy water?

2 out of 4 people found this comment helpful

Anonymous (359 days ago)

how soon do you have to use at aloe

1 out of 3 people found this comment helpful

Anonymous (371 days ago)

Like my Latin American I am from the Caribbean and there we used Aloe Vera leaves on the burnt area, it heals with out a scare. Marion

groovygroovy (375 days ago)

I accidently got burnt in the kitchen whilst cooking boiling potatoes. The boiling water spilt all over my right hand and part of the lower arm. Worst than in this video. I left it in running cold water for about 30 mins. The pain was unbearable as soon as u took it out from the cold running water. So to say, just use cold running water, I'm afraid that is not enough. I felt like fainting, it was that bad. I tried an old granny recepy which is to peel some potatoes (ironic, i know) and place them on the burn. The pain was so great that I couldn't do this either. It does work, but not on this huge burn. Thankfully I had aloe vera gel. I am Spanish and back at home we use aloe vera plants for these things because it is a miracle plant and it does cure the burn faster if it's straight from the plant. Unfortunately I live in UK and I can't find any aloe vera plants here. So I went to the chemist and I got given an antiseptic cream. The next day my hand doubled in size, I got minor blisters and I couldn't close my hand (like a fist). My boyfriend said I got crocodile skin because of it and told me never to use it again. I went back to the aloe vera cream and the vaseline Intensive care aloe Fresh (which contains cucumber too). It is getting better,, my top skin is breaking and i can see some new skin underneath. Of course I ain't touching it because i don't want an infection. We need more aloe vera plants in the UK. I'll keep looking 'cos I know that's the best treatment. You peel off the skin of the ALOE VERA plant, and rest the gelatine like gluey substance on your BURN. You wrap it up in a bandage and replace after a couple of hours or so. The burn will dissapear and no marks or blisters will come up. Trust me. I did this in Spain once and was shocked at the results! No marks either.