How to save yourself from burns? Remembering the "five-word formula" can help you a lot!

Drinking a cup of hot drink to warm the stomach is a good choice for many people to get rid of the cold. However, accidents of being scalded by hot water, hot oil, and hot soup often happen unexpectedly. So what should you do if you are scalded by hot liquid?

According to statistics, only 10% of people who are scalded by hot liquids can properly treat the burn before seeking medical treatment. Inappropriate treatment often deepens the burn wound, aggravates the injury, prolongs the healing time and forms scars.

In daily life, the more common burns include hot liquid burns, steam burns, hot object contact burns, low temperature burns, etc., and the most common burns are caused by hot liquids such as hot water, hot soup, and hot oil. The essence of burns is thermal damage to the skin and subcutaneous tissue. In medicine, burns can be divided into 4 degrees according to the different layers of the skin affected, namely Ⅰ°, Ⅱ°, Ⅲ°, and Ⅳ° burns.

How to judge the depth of burns? You can tell by looking at the appearance of the skin after the burn.

Ⅰ° burn

The main symptoms of Ⅰ° burns are redness and swelling of the skin, but no blisters appear and the pain is obvious.

Ⅱ° burns

After a superficial Ⅱ° burn, blisters of varying sizes will appear on the skin, containing light yellow (sometimes light red) clear liquid or protein coagulated jelly, with obvious local redness and swelling. If the blisters rupture, a red and moist wound surface under the blister skin can be seen, which is soft in texture and sensitive to pain.

Blisters often appear on the skin after a deep II° burn. If the blisters rupture, the subcutaneous wound surface can be seen to be white with a hint of red or red and white, with a tough texture and little sensitivity to pain. Sometimes, millet-sized red dots or tiny branch-like blood vessels can be seen.

Ⅲ° burns

Symptoms of Ⅲ° burns include localized pale skin, no blisters, loss of sensation, coolness, and leathery texture. A thick network of blood vessels can often be seen through the eschar.

IV° burns

In case of IV° burns, the skin and soft tissue appear pale, burnt yellow or charred, dry and hard like leather. There is no obvious swelling on the surface, and there is loss of consciousness and limited movement.

The five-word formula for self-help for burns

If you or someone around you is burned, what should you do? You need to remember the "five-word formula" for self-help for burns: "rinse, remove, soak, cover, and send."

Taking the burn on the left upper forearm as an example, the burned left upper limb should be immediately rinsed with cold water. After "rinsing" for 3-5 minutes, the pain will be significantly relieved. Then take off the clothes on the forearm. If the clothes are very tight, use scissors to cut the clothes open to avoid damaging the fragile epidermis after the burn when taking them off, so as to avoid secondary injury.

After taking off the clothes on the scalded part, you need to soak the scalded part in cold water for 20-30 minutes. When soaking, try to place the left upper limb in a high position to reduce the swelling. If there is no soaking condition, you can also use a clean towel or cotton fabric soaked in cold water to cover it, and change the towel in time or keep soaking the towel with cold water to keep the temperature low.

After the soaking is complete, you can carefully cover the injured area with sterile (clean) gauze or cotton fabric, elevate the injured area, and "send" the patient to the hospital as soon as possible. You can continue to use a towel soaked in cold water to cool down during the process. During the entire process of self-treatment, you need to be careful to protect the burned skin and try not to break or rub off the blister skin.